NJPH The Journal of the NEW JERSEY POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY ISSN: 1078-1625 Vol. 44 No. 3 Whole Number 203 Aug 2016 From New Jersey to The in 1869

A prepaid cover at the new 12¢ rate sent to Mrs. or Admiral Radford in the United Kingdom from Morristown, New Jersey in December 1869. Admiral William Radford was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1866 and commanded the US European Squadron from 1869 to 1870. His wife was Mary Elizabeth Lovell and the Radford family resided in Morristown for many years. See page 124. ~ CONTENTS ~ President’s Message ...... Robert G. Rose ...... 122 Garden State Post Card Club Show! ...... 123 Mail Sent Abroad from Morris County: Part I ...... Don Chafetz ...... 124 Free Franks of New Jersey Signers ...... Ed & Jean Siskin ...... 129 NJ Straight Line Handstamps: Basking Ridge, NJ ...... Robert G. Rose ...... 138 The Last U.S. Warship Sunk on 28 July 1945: NJ-Built Battleship, USS Indianapolis (CA 35), Part 2 ...... Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan, USN (Ret.) ... 142 Censored: A World War II Odyssey from NJ to Occupied Denmark ...... John A. Trosky ...... 169 On the Auction Scene: Sale of NJ Civil War Covers ...... Robert G. Rose ...... 174 Spotswood NJ: Request for Information ...... Mark & Bonnie Sommer 177 Treasurer’s Report ...... Andy Kupersmit ...... 178 Webmaster’s Update: Up and Running! ...... Warren Plank ...... 179 Member News: NY2016 & APS Show Reports, Member Changes ...... 180 Member Ads ...... 181 Literature Available ...... 183 121

NEW JERSEY POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY, INC. APS Affiliate #95 - PHS Affiliate #1A - NJFSC Chapter #44S ISSN: 1078-1625 Annual Membership Subscriptions $15.00 *** Website: www.NJPostalHistory.org/ OFFICERS President: Robert G. Rose, 18 Balbrook Drive, Mendham, NJ 07945 [email protected] VP & Ed. Emeritus: E. E. Fricks, 25 Murray Way, Blackwood, NJ 08012 [email protected] Treasurer: Andrew Kupersmit, 143 Woodbridge Ave., Metuchen, NJ 08840 [email protected] Secretary: Jean R. Walton, 125 Turtleback Rd., Califon, NJ 07830 [email protected] Webmaster: Warren Plank, 625 Singley Ave, Runnemede, NJ 08078 [email protected] Co-Editors /NJPH: Robert G. Rose, [email protected] & Jean R. Walton, [email protected] Auction Mgr: Arne Englund, 423 Penwell Rd., Port Murray, NJ 07865-3012, [email protected] ****************************************************************************** MEMBERSHIP REPORT See our Treasurer’s Report on page 178 - our membership now stands at 101 – We lose a few every year, and gain one or two a year, but the trend is down, not up, and – like many other stamp societies – we have an aging membership, and attrition will catch up with us. Consider encouraging new members to join. Fresh faces are always welcome! Request a couple copies of the journal to leave at local libraries. Share your enthusiasm for NJ postal history with others and encourage young people in the hobby! Let’s not become too tired or sedate to share the hobby. It will benefit us in the long run. ****************************************************************************** PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

How fast the summer has passed. Excitement and expectations built up all through the spring for NY2016. And what a show it proved to be! The exhibits were the best from all of worldwide philately, great programs, auctions and dealers from around the world and a number of society and APS dinners. Several of our Society members exhibited at the Show and took a share of the top awards. Having still more of a philatelic appetite, we traveled to the Pacific Northwest and APS’s StampShow 2016 in Portland. Once again, the Show included a wonderful array of exhibits in both the Champion of Champions class and in the open competition. Details are included in the Membership News, but I would be remiss in failing to mention in my message that our Society’s Journal, NJPH, was again awarded a gold medal in the Literature competition at StampShow. Many thanks to Jean Walton for all of her hard work in the production of our Journal. This issue of NJPH again contains a broad range of articles touching upon New Jersey’s postal history, and addresses topics dating from the American Revolution, the stampless period, the Civil War, to World War II. A big thanks to contributors! Our Society is fortunate in having a small cadre of dedicated contributors to this Journal. The challenge, however, is bringing in some new participants from among our membership. It’s really easy. I know that many of you have a favorite cover or two reflecting your interest in our State’s postal history. All you need do is send me a scan of the cover and a few lines of text describing the item and we’ll turn it into an article. So do it and become a published author! ROBERT G. ROSE

122 GARDEN STATE POSTCARD CLUB SHOW!

Come to the Garden State Postcard Club Show!

For specific directions visit our web site at: http://www.seocom.com/gspcc/gspccshow.html where you can print out this discount card PAL Center, 33 Baldwin Road, Parsippany, NJ Show Chairman: Barbara Booz For information call (732) 442‐4234 or (908) 418‐3326(c) or email [email protected].

Vol. 44/No. 3 123 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 MAIL SENT ABROAD FROM MORRIS COUNTY ~ Don Chafetz

MAIL SENT ABROAD FROM MORRIS COUNTY: Part 1 By Don Chafetz

In my collection of Morris County material, I have a number of covers sent abroad. These covers present an expanded and most challenging area of study.

Before 1874, rates between the United States and European countries were set by a variety of different postal conventions.1 The covers in Figure 1 and Figure 2 were subject to the United States – North German Union Postal Convention of October 1867.

The United States – North German Union Postal Convention Mail between the United States and other countries went through exchange offices in each country. Exchange offices in the United States were established at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago; and in the North German Union at Bremen and Hamburg. The exchange Traveling Post-Office No. 10, between Cologne and Verniers was to correspond only with New York, via England and Belgium. Bremen and Hamburg were to correspond with all of the United States offices. The international rates for single letters of 15 grams were:

Direct mail, between Bremen or Hamburg and the United States: (See Figure 1) • On letters from the United States, 10 cents • On letters from Germany, 4 silbergroschen Closed mail, via England: (See Figure 2) • On letters from the United States, 15 cents • On letters from Germany, 6 silbergroschen

All of the conventions, except that with the British, provided the same procedure for setting the rates on open-mail letters.

Fig. 1: A 10¢ cover from Morristown, NJ to Liepsic, Saxony (Leipzig, Saxony) February 20, 1869 inscribed in the top left of the envelope: via Hamburg Steamer.

NJPH 124 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Don Chafetz ~ MAIL SENT ABROAD FROM MORRIS COUNTY

Fig. 1b: Letters sent from the New York and Boston offices and sent to the offices of Bremen or Hamburg bear circular markings showing the Fig. 1a: Hamburg Exchange Office United States exchange office, marking indicating mail went directly the date, PAID ALL and to Hamburg, postage paid. March 9, inscribed DIRECT. 1869.

Prepaid Letters - New York Office to the Traveling Office, Verviers to Cologne

Prepaid letters dispatched by the New York office to the traveling office, Verviers to Cologne, a circular marking inscribed NEW YORK PAID ALL/[ date ]/BR. TRANSIT was applied in red.

Fig. 2: A 15¢ cover from Morristown, NJ to Gottingen, North Germany, with a star cancellation. Morristown October 20, 1869 - New York October 21, 1869, British packet - Verviers Coeln Franco November 11, 1869. Exchange Office Accounting Traveling PO #10 Between Verviers & Cologne Verviers Coeln Franco Closed mail via England to U.S. inland .03¢ Sea .06 Transit .03 French Internal .03 Single rate .15¢2

Vol. 44/No. 3 125 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 MAIL SENT ABROAD FROM MORRIS COUNTY ~ Don Chafetz

Fig. 2a. Morristown Oct. 20 cancel over red New York Paid All Oct. 21 Br. Transit, and red Verviers / /Coeln/ Franco cancel Nov. 11, 1869.

The cover in Figure 3 to France falls under the US-France Postal Convention of 1857, in effect until 1870.

Fig. 3: Morristown, NJ to Paris France, star cancellation Morristown July 29, 1869 - New York July 31, 1869 - Calais, France August 4, 1869. Fig. 3a Exchange Office Accounting American Packet via England

U.S inland .03¢ Sea .06 Transit .02 1 French Inland .04 Single rate .15¢

3 2

1. PD - Postage was prepaid for some part of the distance beyond the territory of the dispatching office. 2. ET-UNIS, SERV. AM. CALAIS, August 11, 1869. 3. Red New York 6 cents - prepaid letter posted in the United States, credit to France.3

NJPH 126 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Don Chafetz ~ MAIL SENT ABROAD FROM MORRIS COUNTY

The following letter to Great Britain is covered under the US-United Kingdom Postal Convention of November 1868: The new postal convention concluded with the United Kingdom, which goes into operation January 1, 1869, establishes the following rates of international postage, viz: 1. Letters—Twelve cents per single rate of 15 grammes (half ounce) in the United States, and sixpence (12 cents) in the United Kingdom, prepayment optional. A fine of five cents in the United States, and twopence (4 cents) in the United Kingdom will, however, be levied and collected in addition to the deficient postage on each unpaid or insufficiently prepaid letter received by one country from the other. 4

Fig. 4: Morristown December 3, 1869 to London, England New York (illegible) - backstamped London December 13, 1869 – London B.F. Stevens, United States Dispatch Agent handstamp, December 13, 1869. Addressed to Mrs. Radford or Admiral Radford Care of B. F. Stevens, U.S. Dispatch Agent, London* Marked Postage Paid Postage as of January 1869 - 12¢ *B. F. Stevens was US dispatch agent at London and had charge of the mail intended for the vessels of the serving in Atlantic or European stations.5 The cover above was written to the Radford family when Rear Admiral William Radford had been assigned the command of the European Squadron.

Fig. 5: Rear Admiral William Radford (1808-1890). The portrait at left was done when he was in command of the European Squadron (c. 1870).

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Rear Admiral William Radford (1808-1890), appointed as midshipman in 1825, distinguished himself as a in 1847, when he and a band of volunteers captured the Mexican vessel Malek Adel in Mazatlan, Mexico during the Mexican-American War. He rose steadily through the ranks, becoming a in 1855, and was given command of the ironclad frigate USS New Ironsides in July of 1864 as a commodore of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Radford again distinguished himself during the bombardment of Fort Fisher on Dec. 24, 1864. Admiral David D. Porter wrote of him: “... His vessel did more execution than any other in the fleet, and I had so much confidence in the accuracy of his fire that even when our troops were on the parapet he was directed to clear the traverses of the enemy in advance of them. This he did most effectually, and but for this the victory might not have been ours.” He was promoted to rear admiral in 1866 and commanded the European Squadron from 1869 to 1870.

Radford married Mary “Minnie” Elizabeth Lovell [April 12, 1829 – October 27, 1903 (aged 74)] in St. Peter’s Church, Morristown, New Jersey November 3, 1848. The ceremony was overcast by the death of brother-in-law Stephen Kearny a few days before. The Radfords resided on Mount Kemble Avenue for almost twenty years in a house previously owned by John Doughty.6 All but one of their 7 children were born in Morristown.

Fig. 6: Morristown home of the Radfords.7

It was not until the establishment of the General Postal Union in 1874 (which became the Universal Postal Union in 1878) that simplified regulations were established between the various countries of Europe and elsewhere with the US.

ENDNOTES:

1 U.S. postal conventions are available on the USPCS side at http://www.uspcs.org/stamps-covers/the-foreign- mails/the-postal-conventions/ 2 Hargest pp. 69 – 77, 150 - 151 3 Hargest pp. 69 - 77 4 Camp, David N., Ed, American Year-Book & National Register for 1869, Hartford, O.D. Case & Company, 1869. 5 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Stevens) 6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Radford 7 A post card view in the collection of The Morristown & Morris Township Public Library, The North Jersey History & Genealogy Center, http://cdm15387.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15387coll9/id/126.

NJPH 128 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Ed & Jean Siskin ~ FREE FRANKS OF NJ SIGNERS – Where Are They?

FREE FRANKS OF NEW JERSEY’S SIGNERS – Where Are They? By Ed & Jean Siskin

The year 1776 was a seminal year for freedom in both the United States and in New Jersey. In January 1776, tired of interference into patriot activities by William Franklin, Royal Governor of New Jersey, patriots directed by Brigadier General William Alexander, Lord Sterling, placed him under house arrest. William Franklin, the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin, had spurned his father’s pleas to support the patriot cause. This left New Jersey’s government in the hands of the Provincial Congress, a group with representatives from almost all of New Jersey’s counties, which had been originally formed in 1774 to present grievances to the British Parliament.

On February 14, 1776, the Congress appointed William Livingston, Richard Smith, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, and John Cooper to represent New Jersey in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. They supplemented Steven Crane who had been appointed previously. Cooper never attended because of illness. The rest of the spring was spent primarily on two tasks. They raised two battalions to supplement General Washington’s forces which at that time were surrounding British troops in Boston, and they pressured each community in the State to sign an oath of loyalty to the patriotic cause. These loyalty oaths, to be signed by each male in the town, were held in secret so they wouldn’t fall into the hands of the British. Only three of these signed pledges are known to have survived.

On March 17, 1776, General Washington’s siege of Boston prevailed and the British evacuated the city. At that moment there were no British troops left in the thirteen colonies, although it was recognized that they would soon return in force. They were next seen off New York on July 2, 1776, the day Congress voted to declare independence.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the following resolution:

“Resolved That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and state of Great Britain is, and ought to be absolved.”

Word reached New Jersey’s Provincial Congress, then meeting in Burlington, that the New Jersey delegation was encouraging an additional attempt to reconcile with Great Britain and seemed unwilling to support Lee’s resolution for independence. On June 21, 1776, the Congress recalled the delegation and sent a new delegation committed to vote for independence.

It is important to recognize that these recalled delegates were staunch patriots, and each went on to serve the cause. In fact, William Livingston was elected the first governor of independent New Jersey, a post he held until his death in 1790.

On June 18, 1776, the New Jersey Provincial Congress reported they had formally arrested Governor William Franklin. They requested direction on what to do with him. On June 24, Congress directed that Franklin be sent to the custody of Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, the only Royal Governor who supported independence.

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The new delegation consisted of the Rev. John Witherspoon, Richard Stockton, Francis Hopkinson, Abraham Clark, and John Hart. Francis Hopkinson arrived in Philadelphia on June 28, 1776, and presented the papers for New Jersey’s new delegation. The remaining new delegates arrived between June 28th and July 1st.

On July 2, 1776, the Congress voted to approve Richard Henry Lee’s resolution calling for independence by a vote of 12 to 0. Each Colony had one vote. New York abstained because their delegation did not feel they had the authority to vote for independence. On July 15, 1776, they received the necessary authority, dated July 9, 1776, and changed their vote to support independence.

Following the vote on July 2, for the next two days Congress deliberated the wording of the Declaration, which would announce the vote for independence. The document had been written by Thomas Jefferson, with the assistance of a committee consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.

The final wording was approved on July 4, 1776, and was signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress and Charles Thomson, Secretary. Figures 1 & 2 picture their free franks.

Fig. 1: Signature of John Hancock as President of the Continental Congress sitting in Philadelphia, on this Public Service cover. Seven Hancock free franks have been reported.

Fig. 2: Signature of Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, free franking this cover to Baltimore. Two Thomson free franks have been reported.

NJPH 130 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Ed & Jean Siskin ~ FREE FRANKS OF NJ SIGNERS – Where Are They?

Copies of the Declaration were printed overnight by John Dunlap and were distributed to each colony. Twenty-six copies of the Dunlap printings are known to have survived of which three are in private hands. One of these, discovered in a Pennsylvania Flea Market a few years ago, was sold for $8.1 million.

On July 8, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed for the first time in New Jersey in Trenton to “loud acclamation.”

An engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence was prepared and was formally signed on August 2, 1776. This is the Declaration with which we are all familiar. All five New Jersey delegates signed on that day.

Only fifty delegates signed on August 2, 1776; six additional signatures were added, five later that year and the last one in 1781. Charles Thomson, the Secretary, who signed the approved wording on July 4, 1776, did not sign the engrossed copy.

There is a famous 1817 painting by John Trumbull, son of the Governor of Connecticut, which purports to show the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This painting, shown in Figure 3, now hangs in the Capitol Rotunda. Trumbull claimed he went to great pains to ensure that the portraits of people shown in the painting were accurate and identifiable. The painting shows four of New Jersey’s signers: John Hart is not pictured.

Fig. 3: John Trumbull’s painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 1817 (with New Jersey signers identified.).

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The painting, while probably accurately showing the faces of the people represented, does not accurately represent the scene on August 2, 1776.

Specifically:

 Forty-eight people are shown. Fifty-one people were actually present.  Five signers who were not present on August 2 are shown.  Four non-signers who were not present are shown,  Thirteen signers who were present are not shown, including John Hart.  One non-signer (Thomson) is shown.

Autographs of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence have been a collector’s objective since the 1820s. About 60 compete sets are known. For a postal history collector, the Holy Grail would be a complete set of signers on free franked postal covers. Unfortunately, the free franks of only 24 signers have been documented and we can find no record of any free franked cover of a New Jersey signer.

Let’s consider each of these New Jersey signers, and when they might have signed a free frank. Remember that effective November 8, 1775, any member of the Continental Congress had the authority to free frank correspondence, and at least in one case, a New Jersey signer did have a subsequent position which carried the franking privilege.

REV. JOHN KNOX WITHERSPOON of Princeton

Figure 4

February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794

NJPH 132 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Ed & Jean Siskin ~ FREE FRANKS OF NJ SIGNERS – Where Are They?

Witherspoon was a Scottish Presbyterian Minister who had been recruited by Richard Stockton to be President of the College of New Jersey (1768-1794), which is now Princeton University. Witherspoon said he was staunchly in favor of independence because he was a Scot, strongly opposed to England’s tyranny, and because he opposed having to pay to support the Church of England. He lost a son in 1777, at the battle of Germantown.

He was particularly influential from two standpoints. As a Delegate he was an active and highly respected member. As a college president he personally taught a highly influential course on Moral Philosophy to every student who attended the College of New Jersey. His students eventually became: one president, three Supreme Court justices, 34 other judges, 10 cabinet officers, 12 members of the Continental Congress, 28 senators and 49 congressmen.

Witherspoon had the franking privilege as a delegate to the Continental Congress from June 28, 1776 until November 21, 1782.

RICHARD STOCKTON of Princeton

Figure 5

October 1, 1730 – February 28, 1781

Stockton was one of the most successful lawyers in New Jersey. He was also a trustee of the College of New Jersey and was credited with recruiting John Witherspoon as its president. After signing the Declaration, Stockton lost the election to be New Jersey’s first Governor by one vote. He was then appointed Chief Justice of New Jersey but declined the post to stay in the Continental Congress. On November 30, 1776, Stockton was captured by Loyalists and turned

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over to the British. As a signer, Stockton was treated particularly harshly. Although some reports indicate that Stockton repudiated his signature, we can find no evidence to support that claim. With General Washington’s intervention, Stockton was paroled on January 13, 1777. This release required that he not support the revolution, so he resigned from Congress. Stockton later took a loyalty oath to the United States. Stockton’s property was largely ravished by the British and he died impoverished. His trashed home, Morven, was rebuilt and eventually served as the official residence of New Jersey’s Governors from 1944 until 1981.

Stockton had a franking privilege as delegate to the Continental Congress from June 28, 1776 until he was captured on November 30, 1776.

FRANCIS HOPKINSON of Bordentown

Figure 6

September 21, 1737 – May 9, 1791

Francis Hopkinson was considered the Continental Congress’ raconteur. He was a lawyer, author, poet, painter, musician, and humorist. A graduate of the first class of the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania, he was married to Ann Borden, the granddaughter of Joseph Borden, the founder of Bordentown. After his service in the Continental Congress, he served as Chairman of the Navy Board. In this role he is credited with designing the U.S. flag we know today. A flag design was urgently needed to serve as a war ensign for navy ships.

Hopkinson had the franking privilege as a Delegate to the Continental Congress from June 28, 1776 until November 30, 1776. Between November 1776 and December 1778 he served as Chairman of the Navy Board and Treasurer of the Continental Loan Office. While these positions did not rate the franking privilege, some incumbents did avail themselves of the privilege anyway. Hopkinson’s signature is most commonly found on loan documents. See Figure 6a.

NJPH 134 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Ed & Jean Siskin ~ FREE FRANKS OF NJ SIGNERS – Where Are They?

Fig. 6a. Loan document signed by Hopkinson.

ABRAHAM CLARK of Elizabethtown

Figure 7

February 15, 1726 – September 15, 1794

Clark was a surveyor who taught himself the law. He did do so much free legal work for the poor that he was referred to as the “poor man’s councilor.” He was High Sheriff of Essex County when elected to the Provincial Congress in 1775.

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Two of his sons were officers in Washington’s army; both were captured by the British and brutally tortured because of their father. Reportedly, Clark was offered the lives of his sons if he would withdraw his signature from the Declaration of Independence. He refused.

Clark had the franking privilege as a delegate to the Continental Congress from June 28, 1776 until mid-1778. He also had the franking privilege as a representative to Congress from March 4, 1791 until his death on September 15, 1794.

JOHN HART of Hopewell

Figure 8

Circa 1711 - May 11, 1779

Hart was known as “Honest John” by his friends and neighbors. Fellow signer Benjamin Rush described him as “a plain honest Jersey farmer with little education but with good sense and virtue enough to pursue the true interests of his country.” He served as a member of Provincial Congress from its founding until August 1776 when he was elected the first speaker of New Jersey’s new House of Representatives. In 1776, the British destroyed his property and his wife died while they were fugitives.

General Washington and the Continental Army camped on his farm near Hopewell while preparing for the battle of Monmouth in June 1778.

NJPH 136 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Ed & Jean Siskin ~ FREE FRANKS OF NJ SIGNERS – Where Are They?

Hart had the franking privilege as a delegate to the Continental Congress from July 1, 1776 until mid-August 1776, only about six weeks. His signature is most commonly found on New Jersey currency. See Figure 8a.

Fig. 8a: John Hart’s signature on a New Jersey fifteen shilling note.

The authors would love to hear from anyone who may have information on the existence of a free frank of any of New Jersey’s signers of the Declaration of Independence. Email [email protected].

REFERENCES: Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Volume V, June 5, 1776-October 8, 1776, Library of Congress, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1906. Friedenwald, Ph.D., Herbert, The Declaration of Independence, An Interpretation and an Analysis, The McMillan Company, New York, 1904. Lee, Francis Bazley, New Jersey as a Colony and as a State, The Publishing Society of New Jersey, New York, 1902. Whitney, David C., Founders of Freedom: Lives of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence, J. G. Ferguson Publishing Company, Chicago, 1964. Signer portraits from a Bureau of Engraving and Printing set issued in 1976. The Trumbull painting can be seen online in an enlargeable form at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Declaration_independence.jpg.

Fig. 9: Signatures of the New Jersey Signers shown on the Declaration of Independence.

Vol. 44/No. 3 137 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 NJ STRAIGHT LINE HANDSTAMPS: Basking Ridge, NJ ~ Robert G. Rose

NJ STRAIGHT LINE HANDSTAMPS: Basking Ridge, New Jersey By Robert G. Rose

[The author continues his series of articles on New Jersey straight line handstamps of the stampless era. The first, on Lawrenceville, appeared in the August 2015 (Vol. 43, No. 3, Whole number 199), the second, on Haddonfield, in the November issue (Vol. 43, No. 4, Whole number 200), the third, on Westfield, in the February 2016 (Vol. 44, No. 1, Whole number 201), and the fourth, on Springfield, in the May 2016 (Vol. 44, No. 2, Whole number 202 issue).)]

Basking Ridge is located in Bernards Township in Somerset County. It was the birth place in 1787 of Samuel L. Southard, an attorney who became a Governor and United States Senator from New Jersey, and whose correspondence has provided many of the New Jersey markings on stampless covers that are available to today’s collectors.1

During the entire stampless period, Basking Ridge used only a single handstamp postmark, a straight line, of which there are two varieties. William C. Coles, Jr., the author of the definitive study of New Jersey’s postal markings during the stampless period, reports fewer than 10 examples of each variety.2 In fact, in the over 30 years since the Coles’ study, the confirmed examples of these markings have proven to be fewer in number. A census follows at this article’s conclusion.

The first of the two handstamps is 45x3 mm, all in capital letters, with the town’s name hyphenated: BASKING-RIDGE, N.J. A total of only four examples of this marking have been confirmed. The earliest use is dated February 2, 1832 and the latest, August 16, 1832.3 Illustrated below in Figure 1 is an 1832 folded letter postmarked August 16, to Southard from Henry Southard, his father, at a time when Samuel was State Attorney General and was practicing law in Trenton. It is rated at 10 cents, paying the single letter rate from 30 to 80 miles under the Act of April 9, 1816.

Fig. 1: August 16, 1832 usage to Trenton.

NJPH 138 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Robert G. Rose ~ NJ STRAIGHT LINE HANDSTAMPS: Basking Ridge, NJ

At some time after August 1832, the letter “J” of “N.J.” dropped out of the straight line handstamp. Perhaps the postmaster decided not to use this marking because of its missing letter since no examples with the “J” set in printer’s type have been recorded in the remaining months of 1832 and all of 1833. It was not until February 7, 1834 that a second, and a most unusual variety of this handstamp, is recorded. That date is the earliest confirmed use of the dropped “J” handstamp in which this missing letter has been added to the postmark in manuscript as illustrated in Figure 2. It is sent free of charge, as then permitted by law, to Southard who was then a United States Senator. A total of eight examples have been confirmed, the latest postmarked February 5, 1835.

Fig. 2. April 7, 1834, the earliest reported use of dropped “J” variety.

Fig. 3: The Brick Academy in Basking Ridge as it appears today. Constructed in 1809, it was known as the Basking Ridge Classical School.

Vol. 44/No. 3 139 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 NJ STRAIGHT LINE HANDSTAMPS: Basking Ridge, NJ ~ Robert G. Rose

Society members who have knowledge of additional examples of the Basking Ridge straight line are encouraged to send scans and year dates when known to the author at [email protected].

Basking Ridge Straight Line Census Postmark Destination Source Date All letters in printer’s type face Walton, Jean R., Samuel L. Southard: Correspondence to and from Including Historical Notes 1807-1842 (New Jersey Feb. 2, 1832 Trenton, NJ Postal History Society 2003) p. 183 (hereinafter “Walton Book”). May 9, 1832 Trenton, NJ Walton Book, p. 185. Walton Book, p. 189; Robert G. Kaufman Auction, William Aug. 16, 1832 Trenton, NJ C. Coles, Jr. Collection, Sale 33, March 8, 1984, lot 425; Coles Book, Figure 20, p. 21. David G. Phillips Auction, May 20, 1979, lot 79, described Aug. 2_, 1832 ? as faulty with hole in cover affecting address.

Printer’s type face letter “J’ dropped and replaced with manuscript Walton Book, p. 218; Robert G. Kaufman Auction, William Apr. 7, 1834 Washington, DC C. Coles, Jr. Collection, Sale 33, March 8, 1984, lot 426; Coles Book, Figure 21, p. 22.

Apr. 13, 1834 Trenton, NJ Armstrong Auction, July 1976, lot 678.

May 12, 1834 Troy, Ohio Philatelic Foundation Certificate 446409.

Jun. 27, 1834 Washington, DC Walton Book, p. 226.

July 25, 1834 Washington, DC Walton Book, p. 229.

Aug. 8, 1834 Washington, DC Walton Book, p. 232. H.R. Harmer, Inc., Edwin Mayer Collection of Pre-Stamp and Stampless Covers, February 17, 1967, lot 3184; Weiss Nov. 4, 1834 Middle Haddam, CT Philatelics Auction, Norman Brassler Collection, January 23, 1996, Sale 127, lot 2059.

Feb. 5, 1835 Washington, DC Walton Book, p. 236.

NJPH 140 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Robert G. Rose ~ NJ STRAIGHT LINE HANDSTAMPS: Basking Ridge, NJ

ENDNOTES:

1 Michael Birkner, Samuel L. Southard: Jeffersonian Whig (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984), p. 18. The many member covers with New Jersey postmarks addressed to Samuel Southard are illustrated, and their contents transcribed, in the long running series compiled by Jean Walton from these pages. NOTE: The Collected Letters to and from Samuel Southard is a long-running series in NJPH, the last of which was published in Feb. 2014 (Vol. 42, No. 1,Whole number 193). Other articles are included in these issues: 109* Sep 1994 121 Jan 1997 146 Jul 2002 110 Nov 1994 122 Mar 1997 147 Sep 2002 111 Jan 1995 123 May 1997 148 Nov 2002 114 Sep 1995 142 Jun 2001 169 Feb 2008 115 Nov 1995 143 Sep 2001 180 Nov 2010 116 Jan 1996 144 Nov 2001 182 May 2011 117 Mar 1996 145 Mar 2002 191 Aug 2013

Compiled into one volume: Walton, Jean, Ed., Samuel L. Southard, Correspondence To and From, including Historical Notes, NJPHS, 2003. 2 William C. Coles, Jr., The Postal Markings of New Jersey Stampless Covers, Collectors Club of Chicago, 1983, p. 138. 3 Coles reports uses in both 1832 and 1833, but this author’s research has confirmed only four examples, one of which is faulty.

WE NEED ARTICLES NOW! Articles on items in your collection, studies you are doing, or other material pertinent to New Jersey postal history are always welcome. PLEASE submit these to your Editor: Robert G. Rose at 18 Balbrook Drive Mendham, NJ 07945 or [email protected]

Vol. 44/No. 3 141 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2 ~ Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan

USS INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) THE LAST U.S. NAVY SHIP SUNK DURING WORLD WAR II – BUILT IN NEW JERSEY1 Part II: By: Lawrence B. Brennan, U.S. Navy (Retired)2 This is the final installment concerning the sinking of the last U.S. warship lost in World War II, USS Indianapolis. The initial installment was published in the immediate prior edition (May 2016 NJPH).3 This article deals with the ordeal endured by the survivors, an analysis of the causes contributing to the sinking and the massive loss of lives, the Court of Inquiry, the General Court-Martial of Captain McVay, and the following half century of criticism of the legal and administrate proceedings. An official account, Narrative of the Circumstances of the Loss of USS Indianapolis, 23 February 1946 (hereinafter “Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis”), explained: Early in the morning, at 12:15 A.M., on July 30, while the Indianapolis was steaming unescorted, and not zigzagging, at a speed of 17 knots through the water, under good conditions of visibility and in a moderate sea, two heavy explosions occurred against her starboard side forward, as a result of which explosions the ship capsized and sank between 12:27 and 12:30 A.M., July 30. The ship sank 12 minutes after the torpedoes hit.4 Testimony below shows there were indeed Japanese torpedoes. This event would trigger the court martial of Captain Charles B. McVay, III. An irreconcilable inconsistency was Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King’s inability to state definitively that Indianapolis was sunk by torpedoes. In his third and final report to the Secretary of the Navy he stated that it was merely probable that a submarine attack caused the loss of Indianapolis.5 This Report dated 8 December 1945 was precisely one week before King was relieved by Fleet Admiral Nimitz as Chief of Naval Operations on 15 December 1945. King’s report states: In the main the Japanese were ineffective…we suffered very light losses, with the exception of the sinking - with heavy loss of life - of the heavy cruiser Indianapolis, probably by an enemy submarine, on 30 July.” [Emphasis added.]6 Captain McVay’s initial report, contained in Nimitz’s Gray Book, notes the following:7 About 400 survivors of the INDIANAPOLIS have been recovered and search for others continues. Commanding , one of survivors, says that he believes the ship was hit forward by two torpedoes or a mine at about 0045/K 30 July. This was followed by a magazine explosion and the ship sank in 15 minutes. [Emphasis added.]8

Acting Secretary of the Navy, John L. Sullivan, created the general court for Captain McVay’s court martial by a Convening Order dated 23 November 1945. McVay’s trial opened on Monday, 3 December 1945 on charges preferred on 29 November 1945. It is unfathomable that King, who disagreed with Nimitz and urged the prosecution of Captain McVay, wrote in his ultimate report (dated 8 December 1945, and submitted while McVay’s Court Martial was in session), that it was merely probable - not certain - that a Japanese submarine caused the loss of Indianapolis. Simply stated, how could a commanding officer be tried on charges and specifications when, after the court was convened, and the General Court Martial opened, the Navy’s senior officer still submitted a detailed written report that he was uncertain that a Japanese submarine had sunk Indianapolis? If Navy’s senior officer was uncertain that submarine torpedoes had sunk Indianapolis during the general court martial, how could the case have been referred to trial?9

NJPH 142 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan ~ INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2

The McVay case sparked more than half a century of criticism on military justice and led, in part, to the enactment of the Uniform Code of Military Justice11 and its criminalization of “Unlawful Command Influence.” Even King’s biographer, Thomas B. Buell, acknowledged the injustice of the prosecution of McVay and the commanding officer of USS Queenfish (SS 393), Captain Charles E. Loughlin, U. S. Navy, which sunk a protected Japanese hospital ship, Awa Maru, in the Spring 1945. [Nimitz was outraged by the sentence awarded by the members of the court, a mere letter of admonition, and he then issued harsher letters of reprimand to the members.] The trial and conviction of Captain McVay was unprecedented. No other naval officer was convicted during the 20th century for the loss of his ship during combat. Perhaps the death of President Roosevelt was a major cause of the change in policy. In addition to more than 12 years as president, FDR was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for nearly all of Wilson’s two terms (1913-21) and approved the convictions of many of the courts martial during and soon after World War I. Fig. 31: Captain McVay on the eve of his court martial trial, Nov. 28, 1945.10 None of the Navy and Naval Reserve officers convicted as a result of collisions and strandings were charged with losing their ships prior to the Armistice. Some senior officers were informally punished: Commander Seligman, Executive Officer of USS Lexington (CV 2) in the late spring and summer of 1942 for disclosing to a reporter the fact that the US had broken the Japanese naval code, and Captain Hoover, Commanding Officer USS Helena (CL 50) as Senior Officer Present Afloat (SOPA) for abandoning the survivors of USS Juneau (CL 52) when she was fatally torpedoed, and for failing to transmit a position report to aid rescue. Thomas Buell, a sympathetic biographer of King, in his Master of Sea Power, wrote that the trial of McVay was “scandalous,” “McVay was publicly disgraced,” and “[t]he Indianapolis tragedy was not King’s finest hour. [King] must share responsibility with Forrestal for allowing McVay’s humiliating court-martial.”12 The causes of the sinking but not the loss of lives were explored in the Court of Inquiry and the General Court Martial.

Fig. 32: Damage to Indianapolis on July 30, 1945.13

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The loss of Indianapolis was caused by damage from two torpedoes which struck the cruiser on her starboard side, the first near the bow and the second, nearly under the bridge, forward of amidships (see Figure 32), exacerbated by the intentional opening of watertight doors and fittings on the second deck and above, which resulted in progressive flooding, in turn causing a lack of buoyancy which lead to capsizing and ultimately sinking. There was a synergy of proximate causes (causes in fact) that contributed to the sinking of the cruiser. Rarely, if ever, is a ship lost as the result of a single catastrophic fault. In this case, there were multiple faults attributable to decisions made by officers ashore, as well as the Commanding Officer and his officers, which contributed to the loss. Moreover, Indianapolis was unseaworthy; she was not reasonably fit for the anticipated voyage. It was well-known that she could not survive significant damage caused by torpedoes because her metacentric height was inadequate, primarily as the result of alternations and additions made since the ship was constructed. “Spruance was aware of the ship’s poor design and instability. He remarked to his staff at that if Indianapolis ever was hit cleanly by a , she would quickly capsize and sink.”14 At the Court of Inquiry, McVay testified: Q. Is the Indianapolis class of cruisers reported as being a soft ship? A. [T]hey are so tender that there are strict orders not to add any weight that cannot be fully compensated for. I have heard high ranking officers state as their opinion that they feel certain that this class of ship could hardly be expected to take more than one torpedo hit and remain afloat.15 The ship’s Medical Officer stated since Indianapolis was a 10,000 ton treaty cruiser, she “didn’t have to have the same watertight integrity as with the larger ships.”16 Also, after her final yard period at Mare Island in the spring and summer of 1945, one of the two catapults was removed to lighten the weight of the ship above the waterline. This resulted in a three degree list surprisingly to the “lighter side” which was offset by the stowage of fuel, liquids, and consumables.17 Furthermore, Indianapolis was unable to set watertight integrity appropriate for wartime independent steaming because the internal temperatures made the hull uninhabitable. The steps required to allow cool air to enter the living and working spaces contributed to the progressive flooding. When Spruance’s staff first reported on board, “the ship became almost uninhabitable. Ventilation was poor, and (when) Indianapolis buttoned up for general quarters she became unbearably hot. The ventilation fans created static that interfered with the radar, so the fans were secured and the crew sweltered. The temperature in [the Chief of Staff’s] stateroom near the smokestack rose to over a hundred degrees.”18 The most important factors leading to Indianapolis’ sinking were the fortuitous meeting of the vessels at a time and place where the rising moon brightly illuminated the cruiser as she steamed west south west clearly visible to the Japanese Commanding Officer of submarine I 58 which was further to the west ahead of and north of the intended track. Indianapolis was steaming at a moderate speed into an ideal firing solution for the Japanese submarine, which was proceeding at or near steerage way, and a dark sky for a background with the cruiser “spotlighted” by a Commander’s moon.19

NJPH 144 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan ~ INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2

Captain McVay was convicted of a single charge and specification, negligently hazarding his vessel due to his intentional failure to zigzag. It is indisputable that, as expressly provided in the orders he received, McVay ordered the cessation of zigzagging hours prior to the torpedo attack but directed the officer of the deck to use his discretion in resuming zigzagging, as needed. The testimony of the defense submarine commanding officer expert witness, Captain Glynn Donaho, U.S. Navy, was inconsistent and self-contradictory. His redirect testimony supported a finding that zigzagging could have obstructed the submarine attack, if Indianapolis had altered course immediately after the torpedoes had been fired, but his direct testimony indicated it might only have required a new setup. Japanese Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, Commanding Officer I 58, also testified that he would have been able to sink Indianapolis even if the cruiser were zigzagging. Many of the contributing causes of the loss pre-dated the fortuitous encounter between submarine and cruiser on 29-30 July 1945. Indianapolis was routed on a rhumbline course20 from Tinian to her destination in the on a pre-plotted route known as Peddie Route.21 This direct Peddie Route22 was well-known by Japanese military strategists as being heavily traveled. Commander Hashimoto, sailed I 58 to a spot where he could intercept ships traveling on Peddie Route. The decision to send Indianapolis without escort was made by the staff at Commander- in-Chief, Pacific Fleet as documented in Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. The policy determination with regard to the escorting of vessels in the Western Pacific was the function of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. This policy, which required the escorting of vessels in some areas but dispensed with escorts for some classes of vessels in others, which were less active, was largely dictated by the limited availability of escort vessels.

Fig. 33: Map showing the Peddie Route followed by Indianapolis, to the point where she was sunk. At the time of the sailing of the Indianapolis, there was a shortage in this regard and escorts were, as a rule, not given combatant vessels which were capable of “taking care of themselves.” The Indianapolis was considered to be in this class and escort, if furnished her, would have been at the expense of other requirements of greater urgency.23 In addition to the inability to provide an escort, there was no mention of any overflight efforts focusing on the intended course of the cruiser. Nor were there any reports of instructions given to other U.S. ships which followed the same course.

Vol. 44/No. 3 145 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2 ~ Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan

V-mail letter from the USS Indianapolis

Fig. 34: Vmail letters were letter sheets, which once written, were microfilmed and sent in that form to sorting centers, where the letter was printed full-sized, put in an envelope, and mailed to the recipient. This served to cut down on the great increase during WWII of mail traveling around the world between soldiers and their families. For the full story, visit the Smithsonian exhibit at: http://postalmuseum.si.edu/victorymail/operating/flipbook_flash.html

NJPH 146 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan ~ INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2

More troubling was Indianapolis’ 15.7 knots average speed of advance. It was common practice, particularly in the North Atlantic, to send high speed ships steaming independently because they could “out run” enemy submarines and most escorts would be ineffectual or cause a reduction in speed. RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were converted to troop transports and ran from New York to England unescorted because their speeds made it improbable that a U boat could intercept and line up a shot. Here, it seems that I 58 was positioned perfectly for a shot as Indianapolis was illuminated by a full moon and proceeding toward I 58 and a setup. I 58 first observed Indianapolis at a range of 5.7 to 6.3 nautical miles based on the assumed height of the lookout between 25’ and 30’. Actually, since Indianapolis’ height above the surface was greater due to the masts, the range at which she was observed was greater; Indianapolis’ air draft was about 100’. It was by happenstance that the two ships came within a range of 10 nautical miles of each other while Indianapolis was illuminated by a bright moon that broke through the cloud cover and while I 58 was on the surface. According to the statement of Commanding Officer, I 58, while he observed Indianapolis over a 27 minute period prior to firing six torpedoes, the range had closed 8,500 meters from 10,000 meters to 1,500 meters. The closing rate of the ships had been about 16 knots, using the simple estimate of the “Rule of Three.”24 Had Indianapolis been making a speed in excess of 27 knots it is questionable if I 58 would have been able to maneuver into position and reach a firing solution in the reduced time available. At that speed, she would have advanced an additional 1,000 yards (nearly half a nautical mile) every three minutes. Her speed of advance was restricted by two considerations: fuel consumption conservation measures and the commanding officer’s desire to arrive at destination after first light. McVay could have made his rendezvous point by altering speed so that the average speed of advance remained the same but proceeding at a reduced speed during the relatively safer daylight hours and steaming at higher speed when submarines enjoyed greater stealth. Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis reads, in pertinent part: The route over which the Indianapolis was to travel, which was the only direct route between and Leyte, and was the route regularly assigned vessels making passage between these islands, was considered within the acceptable risk limit for combatant vessels. Circuitous routes were available from Guam to Leyte, but no special apprehension was felt regarding the use of the direct route by the Indianapolis and no other route was considered. The speed of advance of the Indianapolis (15.7 knots) was set by Captain McVay and was based upon his desire to arrive off the entrance to Leyte Gulf at daylight on July 31 in order to conduct antiaircraft practice prior to his entering the Gulf. To have arrived a day earlier would have required a speed of advance of about 24 knots. No special consideration was given the possibility of delaying the departure of the ship from Guam in order to enable her to proceed in company with other vessels, since the route assigned was not thought by the Port Director to be unduly hazardous. Zigzagging was, by his routing instructions, left to the discretion of Captain McVay. However, tactical orders then in force required zigzagging in conditions of good visibility, in waters where enemy submarines might be present.25 The most significant contributing cause of the sighting and sinking of Indianapolis was the rising of the moon. The official account of the circumstances at the time of the sinking revealed that Indianapolis was torpedoed “under good conditions of visibility and in a moderate sea …”26

Vol. 44/No. 3 147 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2 ~ Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan

Modern scientists have described the sky conditions at the location where I 58 located Indianapolis. They concluded that the moon was three-quarters full and bright; the moon, Indianapolis and the sub were aligned in a way that allowed the submarine to see the cruiser.27 The moon is a remarkable institution. When you are using the moon to walk abroad under with your best girl in the evening, it is remarkable how little of it there is. When the Jap is using it for his planes to attack you with, it is remarkable what a large proportion of the month you have moonlight. Last night was about full moon. We had visitations off and on most of the night - not that I stayed up for them, however. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, U.S. Navy to Mrs. Margaret Spruance, May-June, 1945.28 Commander Hashimoto explained, in his 1954 book, “Towards nightfall the visibility deteriorated and by about 7 P.M. it was almost nil. We decided to wait for the visibility to 29 improve and dived to await moonrise at 10 P.M. [submarine time.]” Hashimoto surfaced his boat 65 minutes after moonrise: I ordered the night periscope to be raised just clear of the surface and quickly took a look round. The visibility was much better and one could almost see the horizon. The moon was already high in the eastern sky and there were few clouds in its vicinity … I gave the order, “Surface” … As soon as the upper deck was awash … I myself was watching through the night scope … At that moment the navigator [who was on the bridge] shouted, “Bearing red nine zero degrees, a possible enemy ship.” I lowered the periscope and headed for the bridge, and turned my binoculars in the direction indicated by the navigator. Without doubt there was a black spot Fig. 35: Japanese Submarine 30 Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto on the horizon on the rays of the moon. I ordered, “Dive.” In a prior, translated series of questions and answers, Hashimoto’s account generally was similar but he had included essential facts: Q. [What] was the position of [I 58] relative to the dark object at that time? A. [My] position was established still, roughly, at ten thousand meters … with the target bearing ninety degrees true when the target approached within a distance of … 1500 meters, [I] fired [my] torpedoes. Q. How long after the sighting did you fire this salvo? A. About twenty-seven minutes. Q. During this twenty-seven minutes, what was the visibility? A. In the path of the moon I could see as far as the horizon. In areas other than that it was poorer. I could hardly discern the horizon. 31

Two professors from Southwest Texas University and a former student published an article in the July 2002 edition of Sky & Telescope magazine which demonstrated that Indianapolis was doomed by the moon.

NJPH 148 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan ~ INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) LAST SHIP SUNK IN WWII, Part 2

The scholars explained: [There were] three important findings about the event. First, they identified the correct phase of the moon that night, a matter that had been subject to much contradiction over the years. Second, the alignment of the Japanese submarine, the Indianapolis and the moon contributed significantly to the demise of the Indianapolis. And, third, they say that because of the alignment of the submarine, the cruiser and the moon, the Japanese were able to spot their target from a remarkable distance. “The moon was 75 percent illuminated that night, and that differs from past accounts that have said, variously, that there was a crescent moon, a half moon or even a full moon,” said [Professor] Olson. The researchers also learned that, in order from west to east, the Japanese submarine I 58, the Indianapolis and the moon were in almost perfect alignment. As a result, when the Japanese submarine surfaced to scout for enemy ships, a crewman almost immediately spotted the Indianapolis clearly silhouetted against the bright moonlit sky. That allowed the sub to quickly dive for cover and follow a course to intercept and fire upon the Indianapolis. Using known coordinates for the Indianapolis just before it was hit, and also knowing the running speed of both vessels, Olson, Johns and Doescher were able to determine that the sub’s crew spotted the Indianapolis from a distance of 16.5 kilometers (10.3 miles), nearly 5 kilometers more than is considered likely under good visibility conditions. “A sighting from that distance was possible because of the alignment of the two vessels, with the moon backlighting the Indianapolis,” said Olson. Eyewitness accounts differ as to the quality of the visibility on that tragic evening. Some say visibility was poor. Others say it was poor when the moon was obscured by the clouds, but good when it was not. *** Olson agrees that visibility would change with cloud cover, but says it would also depend greatly on an individual’s point of view. “The Japanese, looking to the east toward the Indianapolis, would have excellent visibility when the moon shone between the clouds, much better than normal, in fact. But the sky and ocean were bright in this one direction only. Visibility would not have been nearly that good looking westward from the Indianapolis,” Olson said.32 There are serious questions about the lack of proper lookout in Indianapolis. It is beyond dispute that I 58 had seen Indianapolis well in advance of the torpedoing. Certainly, Indianapolis was a much larger ship and her whole profile was visible. More importantly, she was spotlighted by the ascending moon that provided significant back illumination according to the attacking submarine captain. Also of great importance was that I 58 was hunting for targets and alert to the opportunity to attack.

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On the other hand, Indianapolis did not sight the submarine before the torpedoes struck. The cruiser was maintaining a lookout both visually and by radar. The watch was changing at midnight so there may have been some unavoidable friction and lack of attention along with the need to adjust the vision of the men assuming their lookout duties. Furthermore, the profile of the submarine was smaller than that of the heavy cruiser. The submarine may have been bow on and the main deck awash most of the time she was surfaced presenting a small radar cross section. When I 58 was submerged it is unlikely that radar would have located any part of her, even the periscope when it was above the surface.

Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis reads:

No enemy vessel was sighted either before the explosions occurred or afterward. Watches were properly stood and good lookout was kept, both visual and radar. Normal precautions were being taken against enemy submarines. The lookouts were generally experienced men and fully alert. The damage control party, though well organized, was unable to function properly due to the heavy personnel casualties forward, the rapid flooding and the intense fire which was started in the forward section of the ship..33

Importantly, Indianapolis was not an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship and her officers and men were not trained or experienced in locating and attacking submarines, particularly by radar at night. Further, on this voyage she had not embarked Fifth Fleet’s Japanese language code breaker intelligence unit. This group may have provided information regarding local threats to the cruiser. Nevertheless, there are questions about the adequacy of the visual and radar lookout maintained on board Indianapolis. Had the lookouts found I 58 lurking ahead of Indianapolis’ intended course, a radical course change and acceleration may have removed the cruiser from the risk of attack by opening the range between the vessels. A hard turn to port and increasing turns to flank speed may have taken Indianapolis off the course to destruction.

Frequently, as appears in this tragic case, the mindset of the officers and crew were not prepared for the risk of combat. This is a common failure found in many instances where the warrior is not prepared mentally for combat. Indianapolis was in the safety of waters away from “the front.” The staff officers ashore, her Commanding Officer, watch officers, and crew were not alert to the risk of attack. They lacked the diligence needed to fight the ship at a moment’s notice.

Additionally, when the ship was repaired on the West Coast there had been a massive transfer of officers and men. The replacements, a quarter of the ship’s complement [more than 250 men and 35 of 80 officers],34 were not as well-trained or prepared for combat. Workups and refresher training had been delayed because of the special mission assigned to Indianapolis. There was no opportunity for refresher training on the West Coast or at Pearl Harbor, or Guam and Tinian.

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Fig. 36: The crew of USS Indianapolis.35

Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis revealed: Although all preparations had been made to give the vessel a post-repair shakedown period in San Diego, California, preparatory to her rejoining the Fleet in the combat area, assignment to a mission of greater importance necessitated the postponement of this period of refresher training until a later date.

While in the Navy Yard, there had been a great number of changes among the officers attached to the vessel and a turnover in her enlisted complement in excess of 25 percent.

Every advantage was taken of opportunities to send both officers and enlisted men to schools and other instruction, while in the Navy Yard; and when reported ready for sea, the ship was well organized and the training of personnel was progressing satisfactorily.

* * * At the time of her departure from Guam, the Indianapolis was not at peak efficiency; but she was well organized; her personnel were well disciplined and, in the main, well versed in the performance of their routine duties. Training of personnel was continuing and her visit to Leyte was being made in order to complete her refresher training program.36

Workups and refresher training for the crew were deferred until after the ship delivered the fissionable material,37 and arrived at Leyte, before proceeding to the combat zone and joining Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf’s Task Force 95 off Okinawa. Simply stated, the ship and crew were not fully combat ready.

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The impact of the pair of torpedoes was devastating throughout the ship, not just the forward part where there was direct impact. The ship was fatally damaged; copious quantities of water entered the hull through the massive holes and the fact that Indianapolis continued to steam forward increased the rate of flooding. One survivor, Woody Eugene James, wrote:

Sunday, the 29th of July was a quiet day. The sea was runnin[g] five or six feet waves, just a beautiful day out…Had the 8:00 to 12:00 watch and just got off at midnight. A guy relieved me about a quarter to twelve. I… went to my compartment and got a blanket ... and went back up on deck. I slept under the overhang on the first turret. My battle station was inside it so in case general quarters sounded, I slept underneath it. Just got laid down good, using my shoes for a pillow as usual and the first torpedo hit. … and started to roll out from underneath the turret and the other torpedo hit. … about sixty-foot of the bow chopped off, completely gone. Within a minute and a half, maybe two minutes at the most, the bow is startin[g] to do down. It filled up with water that fast. Everything was open below deck and the water just flooded in and we were still under way, just scoopin[g] water. Complete chaos, total and complete chaos all over the whole ship.38 There was an immediate electrical failure preventing communications from the bridge and throughout the ship; mechanical and sound-powered communications failed simultaneously. Also, there was no light inside the hull. Most importantly, there was no electrical power to transmit or receive radio messages. It was doubtful that the radio room in Indianapolis was able to transmit a SOS. This was surprising and implied that there were no batteries for the radio or that all antennae were destroyed. Moreover, it seems likely that there were no battery-powered battle lanterns for use on the bridge and in the remaining spaces below the weather deck. Since Indianapolis made way until she sank it is clear that the main engines, or part of the plant, continued to function. The catastrophic damage from the two torpedoes caused fatal damage to the hull and precluded both pumping of the flooded compartments to restore stability and buoyancy as well as any form of communications other than word of mouth.

Again, Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis explained:

The communication set-up and provisions made for sending emergency messages were in accordance with good practice and current instructions. There is ample evidence that distress messages were keyed by radio operators and possibly were actually transmitted on at least one (500 k.c.) and possibly two frequencies. No evidence has been developed that any distress message from the ship was received by any ship, aircraft or shore station.39

During the 12 minutes between the impact of the torpedoes and the sinking, the hull was breached and possibly the bow was severed, resulting in rapid progressive flooding throughout the ship except for the fire, boiler, and engine rooms. The crew was unable to perform crucial damage control activities; probably essential damage control parties were wiped out by the initial damage. Lack of pumps, fire hoses, and dewatering gear all contributed to the expansive damage. Because of the inability of the bridge to communicate with the engine room the ship continued to steam ahead; this too contributed to the ingress of water through the damage at the bow. Additionally, the limited metacentric height made it impossible for Indianapolis to remain afloat with the extensive damage she suffered. Thus, she was unable to act as her own life boat while the crew abandoned ship in an orderly manner, launching life boats, life rafts, and transmitting distress signals.

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The failure to have sufficient time to launch life boats, rafts, and floaters deprived the survivors of potable water, food, floating devices, and protection from the shark attacks. The ship’s conditions contributed to the rapid sinking within 12 minutes and the resultant loss of nearly 75% of her complement.

Certainly, it would have been difficult to anticipate that Indianapolis would be sunk in shark-infested waters but, while the quantity and ferocity of sharks could not be anticipated, the presence of sharks and other predators was foreseeable. Nor could it have been foreseen that no distress signals would be received and that the men would be in the water for such an extended period of time (four days). In any event, the number of deaths attributable to shark attacks may not have been as great as reported. Rather, the lack of protection from the sun, heat, evening cold, lack of food and most importantly lack of potable water probably contributed to the loss of most of the men over the lengthy period before the survivors were located. The time the men were left in the water was long but shipwreck sailors had survived longer periods in boats and on rafts, particularly where they had minimal survival gear. The lack of potable water was most terrible and led to reports of many men drinking sea water in desperate but fatal attempts to quench their thirst.

The survivors of the sinking were separated into several groups along a southwest to northeast axis. This separation was due in large part to the fact [that men] were abandoning the ship while she was still moving and the winds and currents were pushing those fortunate enough to be in rafts away from the “floaters” in life jackets or life belts. During the first night, an estimated 50 to 100 sailors who had been badly burned or otherwise injured, or who had no life jackets, died in the water.40 Shoreside headquarters knew, or should have known, that Indianapolis had been sunk on the same day she was torpedoed. Nimitz noted:

Within 16 hours of the actual sinking of the Indianapolis, there was in the Advance Headquarters of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet an indication (from a single enemy source) to the effect that the Japanese had sunk something (the nature of which was unknown) in a position which was approximately the predicted position of the Indianapolis at the time. Had this information been evaluated as authentic, it is possible that the survivors of the Indianapolis might have been located within 24 hours of the time of the sinking of the ship and many additional lives might have been saved.41

Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis further explained the failure of U.S. aircraft spotted by the crew to locate the survivors.

Aircraft patrols which daily covered a great part of the route followed by the Indianapolis, and which were sighted daily by the survivors, failed to sight the oil slick or the survivors for two days after the sinking. Discovery of the survivors by aircraft patrol was largely accidental. Investigation revealed that the planes were flying at altitudes which were considered the optimum for searching the area for enemy craft by search radar and visual lookout. Since, at this time and in this area, enemy craft were almost certain to be submarines this was, in effect, an anti- submarine patrol. Planes were generally flying too high to see the Indianapolis survivors.42

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The airspace above Code Route Peddie43 was heavily patrolled by both U.S. Navy and Army Air Force aircraft. Several aircraft were sighted on 30 July but none of them spotted the survivors. Shortly after midnight on 31 July, the main group of survivors, southwest of McVay’s group, observed the running lights and heard the engines of an aircraft heading east toward Guam. The survivors in rafts fired Very Star flares to attract the pilot’s attention. This was observed and reported by the USAAF pilot, who continued his eastward course. Ordeal by Sea gives the following account of this sighting:

The plane was... piloted by Captain Richard G. LeFrancis of the Army Air Force [who] saw the pyrotechnics ...[which] looked like naval battle ... He watched the bright balls of fire jut up from the sea and made a note of the location in his logbook. When Captain LeFrancis touched down in Guam, he made a full report ... but those in authority told him to forget it. What the Navy was involved in was no concern of the Army Air Force. Captain LeFrancis nodded and bowed out. He had made his report and it had been tossed aside.44

The survivors’ accounts, decades later, demonstrate the terror and pain they endured as their desperation escalated while their shipmates died by the hundreds and hope of survival dimmed.

Radioman Third Class Arthur L. Leenerman simply stated, “When the sharks were around, I would pull my legs up as far as I could.” Corporal Edgar Harrell, USMC reflected, “When you think you could die at any moment, you don’t get used to anything.” Fire Controlman Third Class Robert M. Witzig recalled, “We don’t ever go swimming, but give us a drink and we’ll take it!” Aviation Machinist Mate Third Class James Jarvis stated, “The nights were the hardest. It was so cold you’d start shaking, and you couldn’t sleep, and you knew no one would be finding you.”45 Another survivor, Seaman Lowell Dean Cox, U.S. Navy, observed: I never saw a life raft. I finally heard some moans and groans and yelling and swam over and got with a group of 30 men and that’s where I stayed … We figured that if we could just hold out for a couple of days they’d pick us up … I saw one [shark] the first morning after daylight. They were big. Some of them I swear were 15ft long … …You were constantly in fear because you’d see ‘em all the time. Every few minutes you’d see their fins - a dozen to two dozen fins in the water. They would come up and bump you. I was bumped a few times - you never know when they are going to attack you.46

There were a number of great heroes who sacrificed their lives to encourage and support groups of survivors; a Chaplain and the Marine Detachment Commanding Officer were particularly heroic and sacrificed their lives for their shipmates. One survivor, Frank J. Centazzo, wrote: I was in the group with Father Conway. I saw him go from one small group to another getting the shipmates to join in prayer and asking them not to give up hope of being rescued. He kept working until he was exhausted. I remember on the third day late in the afternoon when he approached me and Paul McGiness. He was thrashing the water and Paul and I held him so he could rest a few hours. Later, he managed to get away from us and we never saw him again. … 47

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The ship’s Senior Medical Officer, Captain Lewis L. Haynes, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy, recalled: All thoughts of rescue are gone, and our twisted reasoning has come to accept this as our life until the end is reached. The chaplain, a priest, is not a strong man physically, yet his courage and goodness seem to have no limit. I wonder about him, for the night is particularly difficult and most of us suffer from chills, fever and delirium. The chaplain’s delirium mounts; his struggles almost too much for me. I grab the chaplain and thrust my arm through the chaplain’s life jacket so that I may hold him securely through his wild thrashing. He cries a strange gibberish some of the words are Latin but in a little while he sinks into a coma. The only sound is the slap of water against us as I wait for the end. When it comes, the moon is high, golden overhead. I say a prayer and let him drift away.48

Fig. 37: Chaplain Thomas. M. Conway on the Fig. 38: Lt. Comdr. Haynes in Peleliu Base Hospital 5 bridge USS Indianapolis. Conway was lost with August 1945. He survived and told the story of the other members of the crew.49 Conway’s final hours.50

Another great hero who sacrificed his life to keep the survivors disciplined was the Commanding Officer of Indianapolis’ Marine Detachment. Captain McVay recommended the Navy Cross, (posthumously), for Captain Edward L. Parke, USMC. The recommendation read in part: For extraordinary heroism in rescuing and organizing a large group of men following the sinking of the USS INDIANAPOLIS... finally collapsing himself from exhaustion. His unselfish conduct in the face of the greatest personal danger was outstanding and in keeping with the highest tradition of the Naval Service.51

During the second day in the water (31 July 1945), many of the survivors began to show the weakening effects of thirst, exposure, and dehydration brought on by the sun, exposure, and burn injuries. Additionally, many men in the groups of survivors (primarily the “floaters” in life jackets) began to hallucinate; some, seeing their ship just below the surface, removed their life jackets and swam down to her. Others struck out on their own or in small groups for non- existent islands. Still others murdered their shipmates thought to be Japanese infiltrators. Some, who were totally exhausted, simply gave up and slipped beneath the surface. The sharks found the survivors this day. Books and articles focus on the shark attacks on the survivors. While some men were attacked and killed by sharks as they floated helplessly in the water, it is probable that most sharks attacked the remains of those who had already died.

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During the third day (l August 1945), despair, hallucinations, and deaths continued. Several aircraft passed over but heads bobbing on the surface and the small rafts were unseen. McVay and others were convinced that certainly the rescue would come this day; Indianapolis was sure to be missed when she did not arrive at Leyte on 31 July. The search order had probably been given but sadly they were wrong.52

At 1125 2 August, while flying a routine search mission, Lieutenant (junior grade) Wilbur C. “Chuck” Gwinn, USNR, flying a twin engine landplane, sighted an oil slick in position approximately 11-30 North, 133-30 East, approximately 250 miles north of Peleliu. He sighted a group of about 30 survivors. Dropping a life raft and radio transmitter, Gwinn radioed all search and rescue forces which ordered their ships and aircraft to the scene. Lieutenant Commander George C. Atteberry, USNR, took off from Peleliu and arrived at 1415. Atteberry and a Navy patrol seaplane, which had been en route to the Philippines, conducted a further search, both planes dropping life rafts and rescue equipment. The first of the rescue forces to arrive was a Navy Catalina patrol seaplane which landed in the water about 1705 to support to those not in life rafts. Directed by Atteberry, the Catalina picked up a total of 58 survivors but the aircraft was so badly damaged that it could not take off. Later that afternoon, seven additional Navy aircraft, a single Army Air Force seaplane and two heavy bombers arrived, searched, and dropped life rafts and other rescue gear. All the rescued were given elementary first aid and promptly transferred to a ship. During the night a majority of the available surface craft – four , four escorts, three fast, light transports, plus numerous patrol craft – arrived. Methodical search and rescue operations were commenced. Searchlights, flares, and star shells swept the area; by day, aircraft pointed surface ships to men and objects. Before the search was abandoned on 8 August, the area within a 100 mile radius of the center of the survivors group had been so thoroughly searched that there was no possibility that a single individual remaining afloat had been missed.53 Before the search was abandoned another Japanese I boat was located by a single with a of LSTs. Nimitz’ Gray Book recorded: 4 August (Guam Date) Early morning of the 4th enemy SS [submarine] made two unsuccessful torpedo attacks on an OKINAWA to LEYTE convoy. An escort, EARL V. JOHNSON (DE 702) made 4 attacks, the last of which resulted in a severe delayed underwater explosion. The loss of Indianapolis was bracketed by I boat attacks. On 23 July 1945, I 53 sighted a convoy of seven ships - USS Adria (AF 30) and six LSTs carrying the 96th Infantry Division withdrawn from Okinawa – making 10 knots towards the Philippines. The convoy was escorted by USS Underhill (DE 682). Underhill was sunk with the loss of her Commanding Officer and 111 crewmen, when she intentionally rammed a (a suicide torpedo operated by a single man, used by near the end of WWII) which exploded. Indianapolis had been attacked and sunk by a submarine during the last offensive foray in the Pacific which was known to the intelligence officers.

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Various commemorative covers have been issued for the USS Indianapolis across the years. A few are pictured:

Fig. 39: Guam Guard Mail was a local post (1930-31) on the island of Guam, which distributed mail to the small towns across the island by bus. Reinstituted in 1976 as a Bicentennial project by Gov. Bordallo.54

Fig. 40: Indianapolis commemorative covers from 1993, and one from 2015 showing the history of the sinking and Captain McVay on the 70th anniversary of her loss.

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Naval Communications with Families of Those Lost at Sea:

Families were first sent a telegram indicating a crew member was missing, and a second when more information was available. The Dollins family received a “reported missing” telegram on August 12, 1945 from Vice Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of Navy Personnel, and a second, indicating his loss, on September 17. This was followed by a letter from Captain McVay himself, regarding the death of their brother, Radioman Paul Dollins, on September 27, 1945.

Fig. 41: Telegrams (August 12 and September 17, 1945) and letter (September 27, 1945) to the Dollins family about their brother, lost in the sinking of USS Indianapolis. Paul Dollins (shown circled in a group of Radiomen on Indianapolis) was 21 years old.55

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A Love Story Remembered through Lost Letters from USS Indianapolis

Fig. 42: Upon moving to a new home, Ruby Taylor came upon old love letters from Indianapolis. The postmark probably was the last day mail was sent from the ship. A story appeared in July 2015 on WTHR in Indianapolis, on the 70th anniversary of the sinking of Indianapolis, which we reproduce here: Indianapolis, Kevin Rader, WTHR political reporter56 7/24/2016 Left: Ruby & Jack Walker as newlyweds. A lot of things can change over 70 years and a lot can stay the same. Ruby Taylor has been surprised how people have reacted since she rediscovered some old love letters from WWII ‐ letters from her new husband aboard the USS Indianapolis. Time can get away from all of us. … Seventy years ago, she was newlywed with a secret. A secret she wanted to share, but never got the chance. … Jack Walker was a radio man on the USS Indianapolis. They were high school sweethearts. He swept home on leave from WWII and swept her off her feet and down the aisle. "He and some buddies knew they would be drafted so they enlisted and so he didn't have to go, but he did. He was really good looking. He really was," she said. … Ruby recently moved and rediscovered the couple's love letters. "I wish you would find out for sure whether or not we are going to have an addition to the family," his granddaughter Andrea read from the letter her grandmother had saved. "The suspense is killing me. I don't know much about naming a girl, so I will let you attend to that. Of course, it won't be a girl, but just in case you better have a name picked out. Let me know as soon as you can." Ruby wrote back when she learned she was pregnant, but he never got it. The ship was torpedoed July 30, 1945. It was the greatest single loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy. "We had no idea anything was going to happen and then when it did, we were crying because we had the letter saying he was missing in action and everyone else was celebrating because the war was over," Ruby said. But she was in mourning. Ruby Walker Taylor, 2015. She was not alone. Friday [July 24, 2015], as America said "thank you" to Jack and Ruby, 90‐year‐old Leretta Beyer was there to hold her hand. She lost her husband that day 70 years ago, as well, and just wanted to be there. Both Leretta Beyer and Ruby Taylor went on to start again and remarry, but Friday, both stood together to remember the time they shared and can never forget.

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Court of Inquiry and Court Martial Nimitz signed the convening order for a Court of Inquiry,57 “to inquire into all the circumstances connected with the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis (CA-35) and the delay in reporting the loss of that ship,” on 9 August 1945. This court convened on 13 August; its members were Vice Admiral C. A. Lockwood (president), Vice Admiral G. D. Murray, Rear Admiral F. E. M. Whiting (members), and Captain W. E. Hilbert (judge advocate). The three flag officers clearly were senior to Captain McVay, the most senior party in interest, as required. Admiral Lockwood was a submarine officer, Commander, Submarine Pacific; Admiral Murray was a naval aviator who commanded USS Enterprise (CV 6) during the dark days of 1942; Admiral Whiting was a surface officer and the brother of an early naval aviator, Captain Kenneth E. Whiting, U.S. Navy (Retired).58 VADM Murray commanded the geographic area where the sinking occurred and his Operations Officer, Captain Oliver Naquin, knew that four Japanese submarines were near the intended route of Indianapolis but did not convey this information to Captain McVay. Within a week of convening, and after hearing 43 witnesses, the Court of Inquiry found “insufficient evidence” to continue further proceedings against two officers for their failure to report the non-arrival of Indianapolis at Leyte. The Court, however, recommended that McVay be reprimanded for failure to zigzag and further that he be tried by a general court-martial for (a) culpable inefficiency in the performance of his duty and (b) negligently endangering the lives of others. Nimitz did not adopt the recommendations of his Court of Inquiry, and on 6 September 1945, informed the Judge Advocate General of the Navy that, “a letter of reprimand will be addressed to Captain McVay in lieu of a general court-martial.”59 Nimitz’s decision was countermanded by Fleet Admiral King, who recommended to the Secretary of the Navy that McVay’s court-martial proceed.60 King and Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal, agreed to refer the charges against McVay to trial by General Court Martial. The proceedings moved to Washington where McVay was transferred. As the victory celebrations for the end of the Two Ocean War concluded, millions of servicemen were returned home by Operation Magic Carpet, and as King prepared to retire, he and the OpNav Staff concluded the paper work necessary for the trial of McVay. McVay had little time and influence on his defense. McVay and his defense counsel, Captain John P. Cady, were given notice on 29 November 1945 – four days before the trial was to proceed. The seven members of the court were: Rear Admiral W. D. Baker, President, Commodore R. S. Theiss, Commodore W. S. Popham, Captain H. L. Grosskopf, Captain J. R. Sullivan, Captain C. B. Hunt, Captain H. J. Redfield (members), and Captain T. J. Ryan, Judge Advocate. While there were more members of the General Court Martial panel, they were junior to the Court of Inquiry The prosecutor was the Court’s Judge Advocate, Captain Thomas John Ryan, Jr. (5 August 1901– 28 January 1970), who received the Medal of Honor for his peacetime actions while in Yokohama, Japan during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. He was a 1921 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating a year after McVay. During World War II, Ryan earned two Navy Crosses. He served as a destroyer flotilla commander and saw action during the Solomon Islands campaign. His last command at sea was USS Providence, a light cruiser. He was assigned to duty in New Orleans after the court martial and served with Captain McVay, also retiring as a Tombstone Rear Admiral.

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Fig. 43: Charles McVay III (center), shown at his court martial, with attorney Captain John P. Cady (left), and Judge Advocate, Thomas J. Ryan (right).61

Captain McVay was denied his first choice of defense counsel, and Cady was selected for him. McVay was also denied a delay to develop his defense, and thus Cady, a line officer with no trial experience, had only four days to prepare. The Charge sheet signed by read: To: Captain Thomas J. Ryan, Jr., U. S. Navy Judge Advocate, General Court Martial, Navy Yard, Washington, D. C. Subject: Charges and specifications in case of Captain Charles B. McVay, III, U. S. Navy 1. The above named officer will be tried before the general court-martial of which you are judge advocate, upon the following charges and specifications. You will notify the president of the court accordingly, inform the accused of the date set for his trial, and summon all witnesses, both for the prosecution and the defense. CHARGE I - THROUGH NEGLIGENCE SUFFERING A VESSEL OF THE NAVY TO BE HAZARDED SPECIFICATION In that Charles B. McVay, III, Captain, U. S. Navy, while so serving in command of the USS INDIANAPOLIS, making passage singly, without escort, from Guam, , to Leyte, Philippines Islands, through an area in which enemy submarines might be encountered, did, during good visibility after moonrise on 29 July 1945, at about 10:30 p. m., minus nine and one- half time zone, neglect and fail to exercise proper care and attention to the safety of said vessel in that he neglected and failed, then and then after, to cause a zigzag course to be steered, and he, the said McVay through said negligence, did suffer the said USS INDIANAPOLIS to be hazarded; the United States then being in a state of war. CHARGE II - CULPABLE INEFFICIENCY IN THE PERFORMANCE OF DUTY SPECIFICATION In that Charles B. McVay, III, Captain, U. S. Navy, while so serving in command of the USS INDIANAPOLIS, making passage singly, without escort, from Guam, Mariana Islands, to Leyte, Philippines Islands, having been informed at or about 12:10 a.m., minus nine and one-half zone time, on 30 July 1945 that said vessel was badly damaged and in sinking condition, did then and there fail to issue and see effected such timely orders as were necessary to cause said vessel to be abandoned, as it was his duty to do, by reason of which many persons on board perished with the sinking of said vessel; the United States then being in a state of war.

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Of the 57 witnesses appearing at the court-martial, three were crucial to the outcome: Commander Hashimoto was asked 87 questions by the parties. He testified that his torpedoes would have sunk Indianapolis whether or not she was zigzagging. This opinion was reinforced in testimony by Captain Glynn R. Donaho, U.S. Navy, an acknowledged expert in submarine warfare who had earned four Navy Crosses. The final crucial witness was Captain McVay, the accused, who testified in his own defense. Commander Hashimoto was flown to Washington and on 13 December 1945 testified about the sinking. On voir dire, he was examined about his understanding of the oath sworn by witnesses. The Court ruled that the proposed witness, a Japanese enemy alien, understood the oath and was competent to testify. He had been promoted to Commander a week after the signing of the Instrument of Surrender on board USS Missouri (BB 63) in Bay on 2 September 1945. He testified through a translator as follows: Q: State your name, rank and present duty. A: Hashimoto, Mochitsura, commander, in His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Navy, Reserve; at the present, here at the disposition of this Court. Q: How long have you been a commander? A: I have been a commander since September ninth of this year since September sixth, correction, please; since September sixth of this year. Q: What duties were you performing in the Japanese Navy during the night of 29 30 July, 1945? A: Serving as captain of submarine I 58. Q: In what position was your ship at or about 2305 on that evening? A: In position bearing 355 degrees from , distance 290 miles. Q: If anything happened at or about 2305 zone minus nine time on that evening in question, that was of particular interest to you, tell the Court what it was, to you, Commander Hashimoto, anything which happened that was of particular interest to you, tell the Court what it was. A: On the supposition that at that time the visibility would have improved and the moon would be out, he brought his submarine to the surface. Thereupon, under the moon, he discerned a dark object and crash-dived immediately, and then swung his ship around to head in its direction. Q: And what from his knowledge now was the position of his ship relative to the dark object at that time? A: His position was established still, roughly at ten thousand meters, bearing ninety degrees from true with the target bearing ninety degrees true. * * * Q: Was the target zigzagging at the time you sighted it? A: At the time of the sighting of the target, there was an indistinct blur, and he was unable to determine whether or not it was zigzagging. Q: Was it zigzagging later? A: There is no question of the fact that it made no radical changes in course. It is faintly possible that there was a minor change in course between the time of sighting and the time of attack. Q: Would it have made any difference to you if the target had been zigzagging on this attack? A: It would have involved no change in the method of firing the torpedoes, but some changes in maneuvering.62

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The defense asked Donaho one question too many. The transcript of Donaho’s testimony revealed a fatal inconsistent statement that helped the prosecution: Q. Is it disconcerting to you as a submarine commander to have a ship, a target, to zigzag? A. Yes, because you may be--Just before firing, a zigzag throws your calculations off and you have to get a new setup.63 McVay had admitted from soon after his rescue that he had ordered the bridge watch to cease zig zagging and that the weather and visibility had been clear. There were few material factual issues in dispute. His testimony and heroic prior record may not have avoided his conviction but had great impact on the Court which unanimously recommended clemency. Captain McVay was found guilty of failure to zigzag but not guilty of the charge of failure to order abandon ship in a timely manner. Based on the conviction, he was sentenced by the court to lose “one hundred numbers in his temporary grade of Captain and one hundred numbers in his permanent grade of Commander.” After pronouncing the sentence, the members of the court strongly recommended clemency. Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis detailed the omissions of the shore side staff in observing Indianapolis’ failure to arrive. Lieutenant Commander Sancho and Lieutenant Gibson were members of the Philippine organization. Bearing in mind the lack of experience of these officers in naval matters, it was incumbent upon their superior officers to exercise closer personal supervision over the manner in which their duties were performed than was actually the case. At the time of the loss of the Indianapolis, the Commander, Philippine Sea Frontier, Vice Admiral James L. Kauffman, U.S.N., was absent from his command since July 1, 1945, on temporary duty status in the United States; Commodore N. C. Gillette, U.S.N., was in temporary command; and the Operations Officer of the Headquarters Staff, Captain A. M. Granum, U.S.N., was intensively occupied in diversion of shipping in typhoon areas and operations. These facts do not, however, relieve these senior officers of their responsibility connected with the failure of their subordinates to take appropriate action to ascertain the whereabouts of the overdue Indianapolis. The junior officers who were directly concerned with this failure were members of the organization which was being administered by these senior officers. For this demonstrated weakness in the organization under their control, brought on largely through their failure to give closer personal attention to the work of these inexperienced juniors, Commodore Gillette and Captain Granum have been held responsible. * * * Commander, Philippine Sea Frontier (Commodore N. C. Gillette, U.S.N., Chief of Staff, Acting) was charged with the mission of safeguarding and protecting shipping in the area under his cognizance. He maintained an Operations Board at his Headquarters at Tolosa, Leyte, on which was kept a running record of the scheduled and actual arrival and departure of vessels of all categories in the area under his cognizance. His Headquarters had been given intelligence of all submarine activity in the Philippine Sea and should have been aware that the Indianapolis was overdue in Leyte, but no investigation as to her whereabouts was instituted until after her survivors were sighted. Commander, Marianas, in Guam, felt no particular concern connected with the arrival of the Indianapolis in Leyte. He assumed that the Indianapolis had reached her destination. No action was taken or required to be taken by that headquarters until the survivors were sighted. * * *

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The following disciplinary action has been taken in connection with the loss of the Indianapolis: Captain Charles B. McVay, III, U.S.N., has been brought to trial by General Court Martial. He was acquitted of failure to give timely orders to abandon ship. He was found guilty of negligence in not causing a zigzag to be steered. He was sentenced to lose one hundred numbers in his temporary grade of Captain and also in his permanent grade of Commander. The Court and also the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet recommended clemency. The Secretary of the Navy has approved these recommendations, remitted the sentence, and restored Captain McVay to duty. The Secretary of the Navy has given Commodore N.C. Gillette, U.S.N., a Letter of Reprimand, which will become part of his permanent official record. The Secretary of the Navy has given Captain A.M. Granum, U.S.N., a Letter of Reprimand, which will become part of his permanent official record. The Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet has given Lieutenant Commander Jules C. Sancho, U.S.N.R., a Letter of Admonition, which will become part of his permanent official record. The Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet has given Lieutenant Stuart B. Gibson, U.S.N.R., a Letter of Reprimand, which will become part of his permanent official record.64 Ultimately, after a belated review, Secretary Forrestal withdrew all four letters. At the 23 February 1946 press conference, Nimitz announced to the reporters that the Secretary of the Navy “has approved these recommendations of [the members of the general court] and has remitted the sentence of Captain McVay in its entirety, releasing him from arrest and restoring him to duty.” In answer to a question, “Has there ever been a court-martialed officer in the history of the U.S. Navy who was later promoted to flag rank?” “Pointing to himself, Nimitz grinned and said, ‘Here’s one.’ …he then told how he had run the destroyer Decatur aground in 1908, had been court-martialed, and had received a ‘reprimand.’“65 President Truman was no fan of the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps. His World War I experiences as an artillery officer in Europe, primarily crossing the Atlantic, were not favorable and Truman did not have the personal experience or interest in the individual senior officers as had FDR, who had known many of the naval officers for 30 years. Thus, King and Forrestal, who Truman would appoint to be the first Secretary of Defense after unification, had little concern about the Commander-in-Chief’s role in the prosecution of McVay. New Orleans was the last duty station for both Captain McVay and Captain Ryan where they served on the Staffs of Vice Admiral Aaron Stanton “Tip” Merrill, U.S. Navy, who heroically led cruisers and destroyers in combat in the Pacific campaign. McVay was appointed Chief of Staff and Aide to the Commandant, Eighth Naval District, and Commander of the Gulf Sea Frontier, in New Orleans. In March 1946, Ryan assumed command of USS Providence (CL 82). That December, Ryan became the Director of the Naval Reserves, Eighth Naval District, at New Orleans. For his last tour, he served as Deputy Commander of the Military Sea Transportation Service, Gulf Area also in New Orleans. Both men became tombstone Rear Admirals. McVay committed suicide in 1968 and in 1970 Ryan died. Early in the 21st century, thanks to the diligence of a school boy and some interested Congressmen, McVay’s conviction was set aside. The New York Times reported on 14 July 2001, “Fifty-six years after the sinking of the cruiser Indianapolis in one of the most horrific events in American naval history, the ship’s captain has won a measure of vindication.” 66

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Fig. 44: A bittersweet letter written by McVay to an old friend, at the conclusion of his court martial, on March 3, 1946.67

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ENDNOTES:

1 Copyright MMXVI by Lawrence B. Brennan, all moral and legal right reserved. May not be reproduced or republished without the prior written consent of the author. 2 Lawrence B. Brennan is a retired U.S. Navy Captain, an adjunct professor of law at Fordham Law School, and an admiralty and maritime law litigator in . He was a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was educated at Fordham University in New York City (B.A. magna cum laude 1974 and J.D. 1977). He is a member of the Bar of the State of New York and various federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. 3 NJPH May 2016, Vol. 44, Whole No. 202, No. 2, pps. 83 -103. 4 Narrative of the Circumstances of the Loss of USS Indianapolis, 23 February 1946 (hereinafter “Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis”). Not surprisingly, Fleet Admiral Nimitz, who had relieved Fleet Admiral King in December 1945, was intellectually honest in his account of the loss of Indianapolis. This document recounts multiple contributing causes beyond the conduct on board ship. Admiral Nimitz also authored a famous letter concerning the cause of the 18 December 1944 typhoon that sunk and damaged multiple warships. 5 Admiral Ernest J. King’s official account, the Third and Final Report Covering the Period 1 March 1945 to 1 October 1945 by Fleet Admiral King, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, to Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal (hereinafter “King’s Third and Final Report to SecNav”). 6 The Third and Final Report Covering the Period 1 March 1945 to 1 October 1945 by Fleet Admiral King, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, to Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, issued 8 December 1945 contained in U.S. Navy at War 1941-1945, Official Reports by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, U.S.N., (Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, Department of the Navy, 1946) at p. 191. 7 See page 98, NJPH May 2016, Vol. 44, Whole No. 202. 8 Nimitz Gray Book entry, 3 August 1945. 9 The Third and Final Report Covering the Period 1 March 1945 to 1 October 1945 by Fleet Admiral King, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, to Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, issued 8 December 1945 contained in U.S. Navy at War 1941-1945, Official Reports by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, U.S.N., (Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, Department of the Navy, 1946) at p. 191. 10 Newspaper Photo from the Baltimore Sun, dated Nov. 28, 1945. 11 Uniform Code of Military Justice, was enacted by Congress in 1950 (10 U.S.C.A. §§ 801 et seq.). 12 Buell, Thomas B., Master of Sea Power, (Annapolis, MD, US Naval Institute Classics of Naval Literature Edition 1995) pp. 348-49. 13 Controversy Surrounding the USS Indianapolis Tragedy, Part II at http://b-29s-over- korea.com/USS_Indianapolis_Tragedy/USS_Indianapolis_Tragedy03.html 14 Buell, Thomas B., The Quiet Warrior, (Annapolis, MD, US Naval Institute Classics of Naval Literature Edition 1987) p. 382. 15 USS Indianapolis Court of Inquiry, at 7 (Aug. 13, 1945) reprinted in Scott, Commander Roger D., JACG, USN, “Kimmel, Short, McVay: Case Studies In Executive Authority, Law And The Individual Rights Of Military ”, 1998:1 Military Law Review at 157, originally published as “Kimmel, Short, McVay: Case Studies in Executive Authority, Law and Individual Rights of Military Commanders,” Naval War College, Newport Rhode Island, 1997. See http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a327131.pdf 16 U.S. Navy Medical Department Oral History Program , Oral History With Capt. (Ret.) Lewis Haynes, Mc, USN , Conducted By Jan K. Herman, Historian, BUMED 5, 12 And 22 June 1995 Telephonic Interview/Site Interview (Newton, MA), Office Of Medical History Bureau Of Medicine and Surgery Washington, DC. 17 Stanton, Doug, In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of its Survivors (New York: 2001 Henry Holt and Company), p. 31. 18 Buell, Thomas B., The Quiet Warrior, supra, p. 215. 19 A term frequently used by naval aviators; perhaps a bit derogatory to senior or more aged aviators. One source explained, “A night lighting condition with clear skies and a large (late phase) moon, to provide optimum lighting condition for night flights, and especially night traps. Favored by, and planned for by, O-4s [Lt Commanders] and above to get their night [trap] requirements” - http://steeljawscribe.com/2012/02/07/commanders-moon 20 Rhumbline, on Maritime Professional, described as: “ a steady course or line of bearing that appears as a straight line on a Mercator projection chart.” http://www.maritimeprofessional.com/blogs/post/rhumb-line-13315 21 Buell, Thomas B., The Quiet Warrior, (Annapolis, MD, US Naval Institute Classics of Naval Literature Edition 1987), p. 382.

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22 https://nihongonews.wordpress.com/politics/hell-is-highwater/ 23 In mid-July 2016 the U.S. Navy announced that historical research disclosed the last probable sighting of Indianapolis by a friendly warship. “Final Contact: USS Indianapolis (CA-35) Passes USS LST-779, 29 July 1945” stated that Indianapolis was last reported seen on “Sunday, 29 July 1945, [by] the tank landing ship LST- 779 [which] steamed toward Samar, Philippine Islands, along Convoy Route Peddie, loaded with cargo and with four pontoon barges secured to her flat sides, on a logistical assignment…” This datum may assist in efforts to locate the wreck sunk in some of the deepest water on earth. http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online- reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/f/final-contact-uss-indianapolis-passes-uss-lst-779-29-jul-1945.html. 24 A ship’s speed in knots times 100 equals approximately the number of yards she makes over the ground in a three minute period. (kn x 100 = yards/3 mins.) By way of illustration, if Indianapolis was making 16 knots she would have covered 1,600 yard in three minutes. The rule is based on the simple fact that three minutes is 1/20 of an hour and there are approximately 2,000 yards in a nautical mile; a nautical mile, however, is 2,025.372 yards while a statute mile is 1,760 yards. 25 Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 26 Ibid, Nimitz’ Narrative. 27 Hageman, William, “Texas scientist believes moon played a role in historical events.” Chicago Tribune, July 12, 2002. 28 Buell, Thomas B., The Quiet Warrior, supra, p. 389. 29 Quoted in Olson, Donald, Brandon R. Johns, and Russel L. Doescher, “Ill Met by Moonlight”, Sky & Telescope, July 2002 pp. 32-33. 30 Ibid, Olson, Donald, Brandon R. Johns, and Russel L. Doescher, pp. 32-33. 31 Ibid, Olson, Donald, Brandon R. Johns, and Russel L. Doescher, p. 33. 32 http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2002/05/indianapoliscruiser052402.html 33 Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 34 Stanton, Doug, In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of its Survivors, (New York: 2001 Henry Holt and Company), pp. 31-32. 35 The Controversy Surrounding The USS Indianapolis Tragedy, Photo: U.S. Naval Historical Center, see http://b-29s-over-korea.com/USS_Indianapolis_Tragedy/USS_Indianapolis_Tragedy01.html 36 The CNO’s Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 37 See NJPH, May 2016, Vol 44, No. 2, Whole No 202), p.96. 38 http://www.ussindianapolis.org/woody.htm 39 Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 40 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1988/WCR.htm 41 Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 42 Ibid, Nimitz’ Narrative 43 The code names for convoy routes in the Pacific Ocean were named after private preparatory schools. Peddie School was founded in 1864 as the Hightstown Female Seminary, a Baptist preparatory school. Later that year, boys were admitted. In 1872, the school took its current name in honor of philanthropist and politician Thomas B. Peddie (1808-89), who gave the school a $25,000 gift. Peddie School remained coed until 1908, when it was decided, for social and economic reasons, to admit boys only. This standard was reversed in the early 1970s, when girls were readmitted. The school is now coeducational and nondenominational. Gifts from Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg ‘27 were used for the construction of two libraries, dormitories, and an athletic center, among other projects. The school has grown to include 57 buildings on a 280-acre campus. In 1993, Annenberg gave $100 million to Peddie, which provided an endowed fund for financial aid, enabling students from every walk of life to receive a Peddie education. The ambassador died in 2002, just after giving the cornerstone gift for the construction of The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Science Center, which was completed in fall 2005. http://www.peddie.org/Page/About-Us/History--Traditions 44 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1988/WCR.htm 45 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150727-uss-indianapolis-reunion-survivors-sharks-jaws/ 46 BBC Worldwide Service interview of former Seaman Lowell Dean Cox, U.S. Navy http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23455951 47 http://kofc14700.org/news/chaplain-rejected-for-navy-cross 48 Saturday Evening Post Aug. 6, 1955. 49 http://milhomme.blogspot.com/2012/06/fr-thomas-m-conway-chaplain-uss.html 50 Photo taken by Bureau of Aeronautics, from NARA II, College Park.

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http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/loss-of-uss-indianapolis-ca-35/rescue- operations/survivor-lt-comdr-lewis-l-haynes.html 51 Leatherneck.com: http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?16009-July-30-1945-the-USS-Indianapolis. 52 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1988/WCR.htm 53 Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 54 For this story and the postal history of Guam, see http://www.guampedia.com/postal-history-of-guam/ . 55 Memorial page to Paul Dollins, at http://hikertechnologies.com/lst1197/paul_dollins_CA-35.htm, part of a larger Indianapolis – Never Forget site at http://ussindianapolis.us/ 56 Published: 07/24/15, Updated: 04/14/16. Channel 13 WTHR in Indianapolis. This article related to the presentation of a flag to Ruby Taylor for her loss and sacrifice; this version is slightly abridged. 57 Courts of Inquiry are long-standing Navy practices. The Articles for the Government of the Navy were in effect during World War II; the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a statute enacted after the War. A Court of Inquiry is similar to an Article 32 hearing under the current Uniform Code of Military Justice. Neither requires a “judge” or lawyer to act as the hearing officer but “parties in interest” are entitled to counsel and the right to participate in the proceeding. A formal hearing under Article 32 now is a required step prior to a General Court Martial. 58 Brennan, Captain Lawrence B. U.S. Navy (Retired) “From the Starboard Delta: 3/16”, Universal Ship Cancellation Society Log, July 2011, pp. 20-27; Naval Aviation Foundation 59 Fleet Admiral Nimitz was mindful that as an Ensign he had been convicted by General Court Martial of hazarding a vessel during his first Commanding Officer tour when USS Decatur (DD 5) stranded on an uncharted obstruction in Philippine Waters. Also, when a Captain in command of USS Augusta, reportedly his cruiser collided with a fleet oiler while engaged in underway replenishment. No formal proceedings were reported. 60 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1988/WCR.htm 61 Court martial picture at http://indymaru.tripod.com/indymaru6.htm . Photo courtesy of Scott Sanford. 62 http://www.ussindianapolis.org/pfinnstory.htm 63 Trial transcript. See Scott, Roger D., Commander, JAGC, US Navy, “Kimmel, Short, and McVay¨ Case Studies in Executive Authority and Individual Rights of Military Commanders,” 13 June 1997. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a327131.pdf See also https://instructure- uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/.../McVay%20Trial.pdf?...attachment% and also see http://textlab.io/doc/1006545/one-question-too-many---lucas-bagnell-varga-llc--attorney 64 Nimitz’ Narrative on the Loss of USS Indianapolis. 65 Potter, E.B., Nimitz (U.S. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. 1976, pp. 412-13. 66 http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/14/us/captain-once-a-scapegoat-is-absolved.html 67 http://historyofthegoodwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Letter-from-McVay-to-Sailor-after-his-Court- Martial.png

Fig. 45: Card showing Indianapolis with 57 survivor signatures.

Fig. 46: A 2014 FDC showing USS Indianapolis.

NJPH 168 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 John A. Trosky ~ CENSORED: WWII Odyssey - NJ to Occupied Denmark

CENSORED! A World War II Odyssey from New Jersey to Occupied Denmark By John A. Trosky

The months long “Sitzkrieg” after the invasion of Poland by the German Third Reich on September 1, 1939 would soon end. The spring of 1940 once again brought to life the full might of the Wehrmacht on the rest of continental Europe and its British allies. The German High Command had planned for a lightning fast campaign in the west through the Low Countries and the Ardennes to outflank their hated nemesis, France, and its ally Great Britain. Along with planning the execution of the campaign in the west, a prior move to the north was initiated to secure the strategic ports and iron ore of Norway. The occupation of both Norway and Denmark would provide bases with North Atlantic access for the Kreigs-marine (German Navy) as well as airfields for the Luftwaffe (Air force) units to protect against RAF attacks on the homeland through the North Sea and the Jutland peninsula.

The invasion of Denmark preceded the taking of Norway and in all descriptions it is listed as one of the shortest campaigns in World War II. Rout would not even be an apt description for this campaign which was a part of the overall German operation called “Weserübung Sud.” It began at 4:15AM on April 9, 1940 and remarkably ended only six hours later with the capitulation of the Fig. 1: Map of the German invasion of Denmark and neighboring Danish government. The Danes Norway in 1940. A total of 30,000 German soldiers massed south of the border on the morning of April 9, 1940. The motorbikes of the suffered only 16 soldiers killed or Danish army were no match for the columns of German tanks and wounded with the Wehrmacht full-track vehicles. (Map by Andrée Héroux, from the Canadian losing 203 killed or wounded. Museum of History.) Very little equipment was lost or damaged on either side.

Denmark and the Jutland peninsula became the jumping off point for the German Army and Air Force to seal the fate of Norway and their British allies who were trying to prevent the loss of this strategic country. The fierce Norwegians with their British and French allies managed to hold out for 62 days before capitulating and evacuating the Norwegian government to London. However, that is a story for another time.

Vol. 44/No. 3 169 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 CENSORED: WWII Odyssey - NJ to Occupied Denmark ~John A. Trosky

Once German forces secured Denmark, the High Command instituted plans for the censorship of all mail through a central processing station in Berlin, the Auslandsbrief und Telegramprüfstelle (Foreign Letter and Telegram Examining Station). Censorship was imposed, in the same way it had been in Poland after the invasion there on September 1, 1939. Eventually this centralized approach proved to be too unwieldy as more countries would fall victim to the Third Reich. Satellite offices were set up throughout Germany to process mail for censorship.

At the time of the fall of Denmark, the United States was officially a neutral state, however, it used a bit of political gymnastics to support its allies like Britain through programs such as Lend Lease to counter German threats while still maintaining an air of neutrality. Since the US was a neutral player in 1940, it still exchanged mail with all parties in the conflict raging in Europe. Of course, any mail destined for one of the occupied countries would be subject to German military censorship. Prior to the invasion by Germany, the Danish government censored all foreign mail, telegraph and telephone communication in an effort to reinforce their neutrality. This obviously failed to avoid a German invasion. Once the Nazis occupied Denmark, all communication with the outside world ended with the exception of Germany, any neutral countries and Scandinavia, (Norway being occupied, Sweden being neutral and Finland an ally of the Germans). Mail to the UK was now impossible and as of December 1941 mail to and from the US ceased. Red Cross letters were the only way to communicate between belligerents. Citizens had to accept the fact that all inbound and outbound foreign mail was going to be read by a censor of the German Reich.

The postal card shown in Figure 2 was mailed from Jersey City, New Jersey on May 25, 1940 as Germany was in the midst of conquering the Low Countries and France. Denmark had capitulated a mere six weeks before.

Fig. 3: Scott #UX-27 with a C-24 trans-Atlantic airmail stamp overpaying the prevailing rate by $.01 and cancelled by a duplex hand stamp in Jersey City, NJ. No receiver stamps are present. However, German censor markings and red censorship stamp are visible in the lower right and left. Note that there is no letter designation of the censorship office in the six o’clock position in the red stamp. The word “Geöffnet” (opened) is in the four o’clock position and the word in the seven o’clock position is illegible.

NJPH 170 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 John A. Trosky ~ CENSORED: WWII Odyssey - NJ to Occupied Denmark

The card is a Scott #UX-27, one cent Jefferson postal card that has been uprated by the franking of a winged globe C-24 Transatlantic Air Mail stamp of May 16, 1939 and cancelled by a duplex Jersey City handstamp dated May 25th. This stamp was proposed by the Postmaster General to honor the new transatlantic air post service to Europe by Pan American Airways on May 20, 1939. This was designated as Foreign Air Mail Route #18 (FAM18). The rate was established at $.30 per ounce. The Pan Am Boeing B-314 seaplane “Yankee Clipper” took off from Port Washington Long Island on the first leg of this new service from New York to Marseille via the Azores and Lisbon carrying 1,800 pounds of mail. The design of the stamp mirrors the previously issued winged globe used on # C12 for domestic air mail service back in 1930.

Fig. 3: Pan American Airways FAM-18 Routes to Europe from New York after the beginning of hostilities.

The routing of this card to occupied Denmark was subject to the Neutrality Act of 1935 and 1937 which prohibited Pan Am from flying into belligerent countries. As of September 1, 1939, service routes now terminated at Foynes in Ireland on the northern route and Lisbon, Portugal on the southern route in lieu of Southampton, England and Marseille, France respectively. Both Ireland and Portugal maintained their neutrality throughout the war. Pan Am routinely stopped in on their transatlantic route, however that all came to a halt when in January 1940, the British Government imposed censorship on all transit mails to Europe as well as diverting American shipping headed to Europe. This meant that mail on board Pan Am flights bound for Ireland or Portugal would be opened by British censors! This examination of mail was important to the British intelligence office efforts and at the peak of the war there were over 2,000 “censorettes” working in Bermuda examining transit mail. This outraged the American press, that mail and goods would be interdicted by Imperial Censors/Inspectors.

Vol. 44/No. 3 171 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 CENSORED: WWII Odyssey - NJ to Occupied Denmark ~John A. Trosky

Pan Am solved the immediate problem by re-rerouting the mail by the southernmost route shown in Figure 3 to avoid Bermuda as of March 18, 1940, to avoid censorship by the UK on mail carried on their planes. (Bermuda however remained a key “listening post” and censorship station for the British until the end of the war, and Pan Am reversed their re-routing by late August 1940.) This air mail post card, being mailed in May 1940, thus avoided censorship by His Majesty’s Government. Censorship by the Third Reich was another question entirely. Since Lisbon was a neutral airfield to both British and German airlines, it is difficult to determine the final route of this card into Germany and on to its final destination in Copenhagen, Denmark. Just where this card was censored in Germany is also difficult to determine since the red stamp does not contain a letter code below the swastika. These letter codes designated field offices for censorship after the centralizing of mail censorship in Berlin proved to be unwieldy. Most likely, it was censored in Hamburg or possibly Berlin. The stamp is in red with the German eagle over the swastika with “Oberkommando der Wehrmacht” (High Command of the Armed Forces) above and “Geöffnet” (Opened) below along with another illegible marking. A censorship office was later established in Copenhagen and all mail censored there showed a letter “K” in the six o’clock position on the censor stamp. It is also difficult to determine how long this card took to reach its intended recipient since there are no receiver stamps. Censored mail could sometimes take weeks, months and in rare circumstances years! The card contains two markings that were most likely applied by the Germans. The number 283 can be seen in blue and the number 1471 in pencil. The second number is probably the Examiner number of the Wehrmacht censor looking over the correspondence. Most of these examiner numbers were of the four digit variety. There was no use of censor tape because there was no place to put it on a postal card without covering either the message or the address!

The card is addressed to a Mrs. R. Michaelsen in Copenhagen from Louis Albert, her son, dated May 24th. I have made an effort to translate the message on the reverse of this card, using some online resources with modest results. The handwriting makes it difficult to deduce the actual spelling of some words which makes translation difficult. It appears that Louis Albert is writing to thank his mother for two cards which he had received recently, as he has not heard from her in a long time. He hopes that she has received his cards.

Fig. 4: Message side of the postal card

NJPH 172 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 John A. Trosky ~ CENSORED: WWII Odyssey - NJ to Occupied Denmark

Louis Albert says that his Uncle Louis must be careful heading west into Albania and he also talks about the Hansen Family. There are obvious concerns expressed in this short note considering what has transpired over the last six weeks in Denmark.

Unfortunately for the Danes, occupation would last almost five long years after this postal card was sent. Not until May 5, 1945 when British troops, led by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery arrived in Copenhagen after vanquishing the remaining Wehrmacht units in Denmark, were the Danes finally tasting freedom again.

REFERENCES: http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/bennedsen/bennedsen-c1f38-e.shtml https://stamporama.com/discboard/disc_main.php?action=20&id=4357 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_censorship http://www.postalcensorship.com/examples/ww2germany/c_ww2gercodes.html http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=114494 http://www.ptt-museum.dk/en/online_magazine/previous_articles/post/index.php?id=101 http://www.collectorsclub.org/Presentations/2015/150304/New-York-DENMARK-and- WWII.pdf http://www.postalcensorship.com/examples/ww2germany/c_ww2geroccscan.html http://web-static.nypl.org/exhibitions/sala/postal.html http://denmark.dk/en/society/history/occupation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_in_World_War_II http://stamps.org/userfiles/file/AP/feature/Feature_01_13.pdf http://www.scc-online.org/resources/reviews/976 http://postalmuseum.si.edu/symposium2008/abstracts.html http://www.c-c-s-g.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=67 http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/great-britain/onward-air-transmission/ http://bernews.com/2011/11/bermudas-second-world-war-espionage-role/

Vol. 44/No. 3 173 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 Robert G. Rose ~ ON THE AUCTION SCENE: Civil War Covers

ON THE AUCTION SCENE: Civil War Patriotic Covers Postmarked in New Jersey By Robert G. Rose

An extensive collection of Civil War patriotic covers, all used from New Jersey, was sold at public auction by Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions on June 23, 2016.1 The sale included almost 200 covers with a wide variety of designs, all with postmarks from a large number of New Jersey towns. Although not identified as such in the auction catalog, the collection had been assembled over many years by Society member Richard Micchelli, who had previously sold the collection intact to the consignor of the auction sale.2

Although many of the covers sold in the typical $150 to $300 price range, several brought thousands of dollars based on the scarcity of their designs. The highest priced cover, Lot 564 in the sale, illustrated in Figure 1 below, against a pre-sale estimate of $2,000 to $3,000, was hammered down for $12,500 plus an 18% commission paid by the buyer for a total of $14,750.

Fig. 1: Lot #564. Postmarked Newton, NJ to “Wyman the Wizard” at Morristown, NJ, Aug. 5, 1862 (year date inverted).3

The design shows a caricature of the devil with a Confederate Flag sitting atop a cask of whiskey marked with a skull and cross bones. The cover is franked with a 3 cent rose stamp of the 1861 Issue (Scott 65), postmarked Newton, NJ and addressed to “Wyman the Wizard” in Morristown, NJ. Its addressee, John Wyman Jr. was born in in Albany, New York in 1816. He was a successful magician and ventriloquist, billed as “Wyman the Wizard.” He entertained several U.S. Presidents, including Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore and four times for Abraham Lincoln.4 He died in Burlington, New Jersey in 1881. Richard Micchelli, writing of the Wyman correspondence in this Journal’s pages, noted that “[n]othing is yet known of the details of this correspondence, i.e., its provenance, its scope or size or when it was uncovered.” The Micchelli article illustrates a number of patriotic covers with New Jersey postmarks, addressed to Wyman or his wife Jane, at various New Jersey towns where he is presumed to have performed.5

NJPH 174 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 ON THE AUCTION SCENE: Civil War Covers ~ Robert G. Rose

Aside from the identity of its unusual addressee, this cover is of particular interest to collectors of Civil War patriotic covers since the cover’s design was described as the only example ever seen by the auction house of this design. It was not included in the massive 6,000 lot auction sale of the Jon E. Bischel collection of used Civil War patriotic covers,6 or the earlier sale of the Walcott collection.7

The second highest price in the sale was for Lot 510, a Lincoln mourning cover to Switzerland illustrated in Figure 2. It graced the cover of the Kelleher auction catalog.

Fig. 2: Lot #510. Lincoln mourning cover from Newark to Switzerland.8

The cover was first postmarked in Newark on May 23, 1865, a little more than a month after Lincoln’s assassination. It was sent unpaid to Switzerland pursuant to the U.S. Convention with France that became effective on April 1, 1857. It was handstamped with a May 7 New York transit marking in black showing 18 cents due France, rated “15” in a handstamped circle which was crossed out and debited with a handstamped “8” decimes, an indistinct red French entry handstamp, a manuscript “Due 19” and, what appears to be an indistinct red orange crayon marking of 10 centimes for the Swiss internal fee, all to be paid by the addressee in Switzerland.9 The auction description states that it is “the only known transatlantic mourning cover of the era.” This mourning design was not listed in either the Bischel or Walcott sales. Against a pre-sale estimate of $5,000 to $7,500, it sold for $6,750 plus buyer’s commission for a total of $7,965.

The final cover in this review is illustrated in Figure 3 below. It brought the third highest price in the auction.

Vol. 44/No. 3 175 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 Robert G. Rose ~ ON THE AUCTION SCENE: Civil War Covers

Fig. 3: Lot #572. Hand colored “battling dogs” from Phillipsburg, printed and hand colored by Berlin & Jones, New York City.10

The cover depicts both General Winfield Scott and Jefferson Davis as battling dogs with their names on their collars. The Scott dog is shown pulling a torn Confederate flag off the body of the Davis dog with a noose drawn below. The design by Berlin & Jones, with its imprint, is hand colored and franked with a 3 cent rose (Scott 65) cancelled by a grid, and a lightly struck Phillipsburg, New Jersey postmark on the cover addressed to Philadelphia. A 1986 PF Certificate accompanying the cover states that is a genuine usage on a cleaned cover. With a pre-sale estimate of $2,000 to $3,000, it sold for a hammer price of $4,500 plus buyer’s commission for a total of $5,310.

A complete fully-illustrated online description of all covers in the sale with prices realized can be found on the Kelleher Auction’s website: www.kelleherauctions.com.1

ENDNOTES:

1 Daniel F. Kelleher Auctions, LLC., The New Jersey Civil War Patriotics Collection, Sale 689, June 23, 2016. See http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=689 2 The Micchelli collection was previously featured in this Journal’s pages. [See our articles: New Jersey Civil War Covers, (Vol. 39 No. 2 Whole number 182, May 2011), New Jersey Civil War Covers: The Wyman Correspondence (Vol. 39 No. 4 Whole number 184 November 2011 ), and Civil War Patriotics: The Story of the Beverly Hospital (Vol. 40 No. 1 Whole number 185, February 2012, and A Soldier’s Letters from Camp Ruff in Vol. 41. No. 2, Whole Number 190, further letters in Whole No. 41, No. 3, Whole number 191, May 2013), all illustrated with covers from the Micchelli collection. His award-winning exhibit of Civil War Patriotic Covers can be seen in our Free Online Library at http://www.njpostalhistory.org/media/pdf/NJCWPats.pdf.]. Of the total 193 lots in the auction sale, 49 failed to find a buyer and were passed. 3 Lot # 564, Kelleher Auction, Sale 689, June 23, 2016, http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/lot_auc.php?site=1&sale=689&lot=564&lang=1 4 Richard Micchelli, New Jersey Civil War Covers: The Wyman Correspondence, NJPH, Vol. 39, No. 4, Whole No. 184, p.186, November 2011.

NJPH 176 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 ON THE AUCTION SCENE: Civil War Covers ~ Robert G. Rose

5 Ibid, pp. 184-195. 6 Nutmeg Stamp Sales, Civil War Used Patriotics Featuring the Collection of Professor Jon E. Bischel. Sale No. 27, June 21-23, 2000. 7 Micchelli’s article on the Wyman correspondence, op. cit., end note 3, p. 184, illustrates this cover and states that it was postmarked on August 5, 1861. However, the 1861 Issue of stamps was not supplied to post offices until Friday, August 17, 1861. Lester G. Brookman, The United States Postage Stamps of the 19th Century, Vol. II, (H.L. Lindquist Publications, Inc, New York 1966) p.5. The 2016 edition of Scott’s U.S. Specialized Catalog states that the earliest documented use of the 3 cent stamp is Monday, August 19, 1861. Close examination of the postmarked year date on this cover indicates that it is inverted and reads as “1862” not 1861. 8 Lot #510, Kelleher Auction, Sale 689, June 23, 2016, http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/lot_auc.php?site=1&sale=689&lot=510&lang=1 9 Richard F. Winter, Understanding Transatlantic Mail, Vol. 2 (American Philatelic Society, Bellefonte PA. 2009) pp. 955-965. 10 Lot #572, Kelleher Auction, Sale 689, June 23, 2016, http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/lot_auc.php?site=1&sale=689&lot=572&lang=1

GENERAL INQUIRY REGARDING HISTORY/ POSTAL OR OTHERWISE OF SPOTSWOOD, NJ

Do any members have information regarding this community, especially prior to WWII?

My late father-in-law, The Honorable Judge Elliot Ross had family there. (Last name was originally “Rabinowitz”). He had cousins there whose last name was “Feldbaum.”

Dad always reminisced about his youth, spending summers there, visiting cousins and his grandfather (maternal?/paternal?) who owned the only bar+grill in town. (Name?)

Dad also claimed his grandfather was always called “Uncle” by everyone who knew him - even to the point where if someone sent a letter to him it was simply addressed “Uncle” - Spotswood NJ.

Any info, pictures, et al., will be appreciated as a lasting momento to him - especially any covers addressed to “Uncle” of Spotswood NJ.

We don't need the actual items - just pictures, scans, clippings from newspapers, etc.

Thanks for your help with this. It will mean a lot if any memorabilia can be found.

Sincerely, Mark and Bonnie Sommer 1266 Teaneck Road Apt.#10A Teaneck NJ 07666 (201) 837-0489

Vol. 44/No. 3 177 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 TREASURER’S REPORT TREASURER’S REPORT – JANUARY 1, 2015 THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2015 BALANCE BROUGHT FORWARD January 1, 2015 $13,474.51 INCOME Dues x 98* $1,440.00 Donations x 53 $1,007.00 D’Avino Donation $1,963.00 CD & Literature Sale $ 106.00 D’Avino Postcard Sales $4,534.75 Blast to Membership $ 65.00 TOTAL 2014 INCOME $9,115.75 $ 9,115.75

EXPENDITURES Paypal Fees ($19.40) Journal ($2,624.87) Paper Statement Fee ($24.00) TOTAL 2014 EXPENDITURES ($2,668.27) ($2,668.27)

BALANCE YEAR END 12/31/2015 $19,921.99

NET CHANGE $6,447.48 Journal Expenses by Issue Month Printing Mailing Total February 2015 $345.00 $273.53 $618.53 May 2015 $340.00 $289.00 $629.00 August 2015 $434.89 $317.45 $752.34 November 2015 $370.00 $255.00 $625.00 TOTAL $1,489.89 $1,134.98 $2,624.87

The asterisk next to the number of dues received reflects the one member who prepaid his 2015 dues in 2014 and one life member. Our total membership for 2014 was 102, a loss of four members and a loss of seven members since 2013. The only real expense the Society incurs is the printing and mailing of the Journal, and costs remain nearly identical since 2008. In 2012, the Journal expense was $2,369.50; in 2013, the journal expense was $2,504.20; in 2014, it was $2,395.05 and in 2015 it was $2,624.87. Also, I thank the late Doug D’Avino and his lovely spouse Sheila. The D’Avinos donated his New Jersey post card collection to the Society and so far over $5,000 has been raised. The cards are now available at professionally set wholesale prices on Ebay at: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Postcards/914/i.html?_from=R40&LH_BIN=1&_sac=1&_oac=1&_nkw=mr+fancy+cancel In 2011, 45 donors gave $952. In 2012, 52 donors gave $1,000. In 2013, 53 donors contributed $1,085, in 2014, 52 donors (half the membership) gave $925. This year, 51 members (more than half the membership) donated $1,007. The donors’ kind contributions (excluding the D’Avino donation) allowed the Society to continue to hold dues at the very reasonable $15 annual rate yet again, which it has been for well over a decade. I thank the 51 Society members who contributed beyond their dues. Andy Kupersmit, Treasurer

NJPH 178 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 Warren Plank ~ WEB SITE UPDATE

FINALLY! August 2016 Hope you are enjoying our new website… Well, it took until the last week of July to “git ‘er done,” and there is still plenty of work to do. I am looking Web forward to providing labelled captions to all of the Gallery photos to assist in searching for specific post offices. I also would like to create new galleries with Update member submissions. Please take a few minutes to Warren Plank ‐ Webmaster review our new site, and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. Wishing everyone an enjoyable end of summer and see you again in November. Best regards, Warren

Please take you time and explore! Send me feedback too! Let me know what you like and maybe what I could improve. I want to make this site one that you come back to time and again. Best always, Warren

Email: Webmaster

Vol. 44/No. 3 179 NJPH Whole No. 203 August 2016

MEMBER NEWS MEMBER NEWS: NY 2016 & APS StampShow 2016! A number of members of the New Jersey Postal History Society exhibited at NY2016: George J. Kramer’s exhibit, Vignettes of Western Trails and Routes 1848-1870’s, was a participant in the Champion Class Competition. Gordon Eubanks’ exhibit received the highest award for a United States exhibit, the Grand Prix National, a Large Gold Medal, and a Special Prize for Treatment, for The United States Imperforate Issue of 1851-1856 & Their Importance in an Expanding Postal System. John Barwis’ exhibit, Philadelphia-Great Britain Mails, was awarded a Large Gold Medal. Vernon R. Morris Jr.’s exhibit, Fighting the Fed in Philadelphia: Carriers, Local Posts and Independent Mails, 1835 to 1868, was awarded a Large Gold Medal. Timothy O’Connor’s exhibit, Postal History of the Thirteen Colonies, 1675-1782, was awarded a Gold Medal and a Special Prize for Material. Robert G. Rose’s exhibit, New Jersey Stampless Covers: Handstamp Postal Markings 1775- 1855, was awarded a Gold Medal and a Special Prize for Treatment. Roger Brody’s exhibit, Jamestown 1907, was awarded a Large Vermeil Medal.

At APS StampShow 2016 in Portland, the following Society members were exhibitors: In the Champion of Champions Competition, each exhibit having previously been a grand award winner in World Series of Philately Shows in the United States from July 31, 2015 through July 31, 2016. John Barwis, Philadelphia-Great Britain Mails. John Barwis, Carrying the Mail from Victoria. Nicholas A. Lombardi, The 1903 Two Cent Washington Shield Issue. Timothy O’Connor, Postal History of the Thirteen Colonies. In the Court of Honor: Vernon R. Morris Jr.’s exhibit, Fighting the Fed in Philadelphia: Carriers, Local Posts and Independent Mails, 1835 to 1868. In the open multi-frame competition: George J. Kramer’s exhibit, For the Love of a Dog, was awarded a Gold Medal. Robert G. Rose’s exhibit, New Jersey Stampless Covers: Handstamp Postal Markings 1775- 1855, was awarded a Gold Medal, the Postal History Society Award and the APS Research Medal. In the open single-frame competition, Ellen and Robert G. Rose’s exhibit, Utica New York’s Handstamp Postal Markings 1798-1855, was awarded a Gold Medal. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL! If you missed Joe Felcone’s email,sharing his discovery of the 26th copy of the Dunlap-printed Declaration of Independence, we suggest you visit http://www.amdigital.co.uk/m-editorial- blog/american-declaration-of-independence/ for the ultimate research experience. Congratulations, Joe! NEW MEMBERS & MEMBER CHANGES: New Member: John Bowman of Corpus Christi, Texas – A past member returning. . Address Changes: Nancy Clark (Massachusetts PR Society) change email from [email protected] to [email protected]. Deceased: Daniel Bagby, 315 Wythe Rd, Egg Harbor Twp. , NJ   

NJPH 180 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 MEMBER ADS

MEMBER ADS: YOUR AD MISSING? LET US KNOW AT [email protected] OR BY MAIL TO 125 TURTLEBACK RD, CALIFON, NJ 07830

WANTED: CULVERS and CULVERS LAKE WANTED: ANY LETTER BETWEEN PHILA. AND POSTMARKS. Culver Lake ephemera. Bayonne THE UK WHICH IS ENDORSED FOR ephemera relating to Ahlfeld, Rabe and Lages families. CONVEYANCE BY STAGE. Your price paid, with no Contact John R. Ahlfeld, 2634 Royal Road, Lancaster, PA whining. Contact Dr. John Barwis, PO Box 8035, Holland, 17603-7010, 717-397-7313 or [email protected]. MI 49422, [email protected], 616/399-9299. ______WANTED: PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY, THE CRABBY MILKMAN is always BUYING Pre- MENTAL HEALTH COVERS SOUGHT. Please send 1960 U.S. Postcards, 973-338-9224. Robert J. DeTrolio, scan and price to [email protected]. Dr. 110 Garner Ave., Bloomfield, NJ 07003, Marion Rollings, 101 New Amwell Rd., Hillsborough, NJ [email protected]. 08844. ______PARODIES OF PHILATELY - All types of philatelic WANTED: FLORIDA STAMPLESS POSTAL items wanted for an exhibit entitled “Parody Philately.” HISTORY, Pre-territorial, Territorial, Statehood, Civil Anything that pokes fun at our hobby/mail services. War periods. Contact William Johnson, 13691 Current or older material needed. All inquiries answered. Metropolitan Pkwy, Ft. Myers, FL 33912 or email Contact Prof. Mark Sommer, 1266 Teaneck Road #10A, [email protected]. Teaneck, New Jersey 07666. ______ALWAYS DESIRED: FISH HOUSE COVERS, WANTED: MOUNTAIN LAKES, BOONTON, BURLINGTON COUNTY ADVERTISING covers and PARSIPPANY, TROY HILLS POSTAL HISTORY corner cards; Burlington County DPOs. Email Paul W. items. Describe or send photocopies for my very Schopp at [email protected]. generous offer. APS (Life member), NJPHS member ______since 1980. Peter Lemmo, PO Box 557, Whippany NJ WANTED: WWI & WWII CENSORED MAIL TO 07981-0557. AND FROM TOWACO, NJ 07082. Email scans to [email protected] or mail copy to POB #139, WANTED: HUNTERDON COUNTY NJ, BUCKS Towaco, NJ 07082-0139. COUNTY PA postal history, covers, postcards, pictures, ______Americana ephemera collateral paper items, all eras. WANTED; STAGE COVERS BEFORE 1860. All Contact Jim Walker, 121 Wertsville Road, Ringoes, NJ Eastern states. Also wanted: Confederate fakes and 08551-1108, 908/806-7883 or email st forgeries. Contact Steven M. Roth, 1280 21 Street, NW, [email protected]. Suite 209, Washington, DC 20036, 202/293-2563 or ______email [email protected] . WANTED: BLOOMFIELD NEW JERSEY ______Postcards and Ephemera. Please call with all details. . WANTED: SCOTT #610 matched set of plate blocks, Robert J. DeTrolio, 110 Garner Ave., Bloomfield, NJ F-VF or better, NH not required, send scans or 07003, [email protected]. photocopies with price to Alan Parsons, 809 Holley Rd, ______Elmira, NY 14905; [email protected]. Always looking for STAMPLESS LETTERS OF ______SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD. Contact me at SALE! Coles (1983) Postal Markings of NJ $35.00, Kay [email protected], or write Jean Walton, 125 & Smith (1977) N.J Postal History, $35.00; Kay (1972) Turtleback Rd., Califon, NJ. Railway Postal Markings, $25.00. Free Shipping. W.G. ______Kremper, P.O. Box 693, Bartow, FL 33831, PATERSON, NJ WANTED INTERESTING [email protected]. COVERS. Contact George Kramer, P.O. Box 2189 ______Clifton, NJ 07015, or email [email protected]. WANTED: STAMPLESS THROUGH PRESIDENTS. ______For the following New Jersey towns: Allendale, Hohokus, Any postal material relating to STEVENS INSTITUTE Manasquan, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, OF TECHNOLOGY in Hoboken? Post(al) cards, return Ridgewood and Wyckoff. PLS send copies with prices to address covers, et al. As a professor there, these could make J. Haynes, Box 358, Allendale, NJ 07401. for an interesting exhibit by me. All inquiries answered. ______Contact Prof. Mark Sommer, 1266 Teaneck Road #10A, ANIMAL WELFARE COVERS SOUGHT. Please send Teaneck, NJ 07666 scan and price to [email protected]. Dr. Marion ______Rollings, 101 New Amwell Rd., Hillsborough, NJ 08844. ______

Vol. 44/No. 3 181 NJPH Whole No. 203 Aug 2016 MEMBER ADS

MEMBER ADS: YOUR AD MISSING? LET US KNOW AT [email protected] OR BY MAIL TO 125 TURTLEBACK RD, CALIFON, NJ 07830

COLLECTOR SEEKS LONG BEACH ISLAND PHILATELIC LITERATURE FOR SALE: postal POSTAL HISTORY, especially picture postcards. history (various states and U.S., U.SA. Stamps (Allen, Please contact Michael White, P.O. Box 5222, Saipan, Brookman, Chase, Neinken, etc., RR (Remele, Towle & MP 96950 or email [email protected] . Meyer). Send want list. W.G. Kremper, P.O. Box 693, ______Bartow, FL 33831, [email protected]. WANTED: All GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ ______POSTAL HISTORY STAMPLESS to 1920. All WANTED: JERSEY CITY POSTAL HISTORY, Woodbury, NJ stampless to present. NEED BASSETT including stampless, advertising, postal, covers, post cards PO (DPO GlouCty 1891-1920) Warren Plank, 625 Singley with local views and unusual usages or cancellations, prior Ave., Runnemede, NJ 08078 856/229-1458, to 1940. Contact John A. Trosky, 2 St. Clair Ave., webmaster@@NJPostalHistory.org. Rutherford. NJ 07070-1136/201-896-8846/, or email [email protected]. WANTED: UNUSUAL PICTURE POST CARD of ______TEANECK, WEST ENGLEWOOD, BOGOTA, NEW WANTED: Calno, Brotzmanville, Millbrook, Pahaquarry, BRIDGE, NORTH HACKENSACK, NJ. Contact Bill Dunnfield, Delaware Gap, Flatbrookville, Wallpack Berdan, 475 Forest Ave., Teaneck, NJ 07666, 201-310- Centre, Bevans, Layton, Hainesville, Montague. Arne 1156 or by email at [email protected]. Englund, 423 Penwell Rd., Port Murray, NJ 07865- ______3012 or [email protected]. WANTED: COVERS, ETC PERTAINING TO THE ______BLAWENBURG POST OFFICE 08504. Contact; WANTED: CLEAR HANDSTAMPS on New Jersey John J. Best, 65 Sycamore Lane, Skillman, NJ 08558. stampless covers for exhibition collection. Send copies [email protected] and prices to Robert G. Rose, Robert G. Rose, 18 Balbrook ______Drive , Mendham, NJ 07945 or e-mail OUT-OF-PRINT AND RARE NEW JERSEY BOOKS [email protected] . BOUGHT AND SOLD since 1972. 8000 items, 1690s to ______1990s. Visit our searchable web site: www.felcone.com. WANTED: ALL THINGS CALDWELL ~ Covers Joseph J. Felcone, PO Box 366, Princeton, NJ 08542 to/from CALDWELL, N.J., Also CALDWELL post 609/924-0539; [email protected]. cards. Contact Les Byrnes, P.O. Box 765, Kinderhook, ______N.Y. 12106 or call 518/758-7581. WANTED FOR EXHIBIT: BETTER COVERS ______FROM NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ, COLONIAL WANTED: NJ SHIP and STEAMBOAT covers before PERIOD TO 1900. Contact Nathan Zankel, P.O. Box Civil War. Contact Steven M. Roth, 1280 21st Street, 7449, North Brunswick, NJ 08902, [email protected] , or call NW, Suite 209, Washington, DC 20036, 202/293-2563 or 732/572-0377. email [email protected]. ______WANTED: Port Murray, Anderson, Changewater, Port Always interested in CORRESPONDENCE TO/FROM Colden, Karrsville, Rockport, Beatyestown, Pleasant OCEANPORT as well as anything between Portugal, its Grove, Stephensburg, Anthony, Woodglen. Arne Englund, colonies and N.J. Contact me by mail at Steve Washburne, 423 Penwell Rd., Port Murray, NJ 07865-3012 or P.O. Box 43146 Phila. PA 19129 or email [email protected] . [email protected]. ______GLASSBORO OR GLASSBOROUGH N.J. covers LOOKING FOR OLDER SUSSEX COUNTY Reply wanted: stamped or stampless. Send price desired and to [email protected] or contact Edwin Black, 61 photocopy to Bill Whiteman, 402 North Harvard Road, Nestro Rd, W. Orange NJ 07052, 973-731-5532. Glassboro, NJ 08028, Call 856/881-8858 or email [email protected] .

NOW AVAILABLE: Annotated Cumulative Subject Index to the Chronicle of the U.S. Classical Postal Issues for Issue Numbers 1-200, 591 pages with searchable CD-ROM. $75.00 + $10.00 shipping. Order from Joseph J. Geraci, Box 4129, Merrifield, VA 22116 or call 703-280-5928.

NJPH 182 Vol. 44/No. 3 Aug 2016 Whole No. 203 NJPHS LITERATURE AVAILABLE POSTPAID from Robert G. Rose, NJPHS, 18 Balbrook Drive, Member Non‐ Mendham, NJ 07945 or email [email protected] for a Paypal invoice. price members CD or hard copy: The Postal Markings Of New Jersey Stampless Covers: An Update by Donald A. Chafetz (2004) hardcopy, 28pp. or available on CD in.PDF format ...... $10.00 $15.00 Updates the extensive work of William C. Coles, with new markings and dates since that original work was published in 1983 Also available to members free as a downloadable file ...... FREE CD only: Washington Organ Manufacturers on CD, by Len Frank ‐ 3 articles + many organ advertising cover illustrations not in NJPH, in Acrobat Reader [.PDF] format ...... $7.50 $10.00 • A series of 3 articles on the advertising covers and history of the organ manufacturers of Washington, NJ, • Adds a picture gallery of many covers not illustrated in those articles. • Includes much paper ephemera as well. An impressive collection. Hard copy: Illustrated Directory of New Jersey 1847 Issue Covers, Brad Arch, ed., 1987, 44pp & Supplements ...... $4.00 $7.50 • For the collector of the 1847 Issue, this book by Brad Arch is the comprehensive work on New Jersey covers • 5¢ and 10¢ covers in separate sections • Detailed descriptions of each cover, arranged by office of origin. Hard copy: New Jersey DPO's, Brad Arch, ed., 1981, 22pp, pocket sized Checklist of Discontinued Post Offices ...... $3.00 $4.00 THE pocket manual of New Jersey discontinued post offices, easy to transport and an excellent checklist Also available to members free as a downloadable file...... FREE Hard copy: New Jersey's Foreign Mail, 1997, Gerard J. Neufeld, 76pp...... $8.00 $10.00 • A fine monograph on foreign mail to and from New Jersey in the 19th Cent. • Profusely illustrated • Each cover explained CD: Mosher’s NJ Private Express Companies ...... $10.00 $15.00 • 10 compiled articles by Bruce Mosher on many aspects of private express mail in New Jersey with many color illustrations • Previously unpublished material in lengthy postscript plus index CDs: Back issues of the NJPH Journal are available on CD for 2003 to 2014, at $5.00 $7.50 • Each CD includes the 4 quarterly journals for one year, in color, pdf format each each CD: 2015 NJPH Issues on CD in .PDF format, many color illustrations...... $5.00 $12.00 Members only: 2 back issue CDs, $8.00, 3 back issue CDs $12.00, 4 back issue CDs $15.00, 5 CDs $18, 6 Cs $22, 7 CDs $25, 8 CDs $28, 9 CDs $30, 10 CDs $35, all 12 CDs (including 2015) $40. (Also available to members free as downloadable files.) Non‐members: 2 back issue CDs, $12.00, 3 back issue CDs $15.00, 4 back issue CDs $18.00, 5 back issue CDs $22, 6 back issue CDs $28, 7 back issue CDs $32, 8 back issue CDs $35, 9 back issue CDs, $38, all 12 back issue CDs (including 2015 CD), $50. Literature purchases may be made with Paypal – email your choices to [email protected] for a Paypal invoice. DOWNLOADABLE FILES AVAILABLE FREE TO MEMBERS ONLY!* Brad Arch’s handy DPO book available in Excel format (for hardcopy see above). FREE 2.95 Stampless Era Post Offices, based on Coles and the Coles Update in Excel format. FREE 2.95 Brennan, Lawrence, New Jersey‐Built Air Craft Carriers, a long series with many covers in PDF format. FREE 12.95 Chafetz, Don Coles Update – a supplement and update to Wm Coles study of New Jersey Stampless Markings, in pdf format. FREE 2.95 Chafetz, Don, Development of Morris County Mail Service – 1760‐1850 – a digital exhibit, PDF. FREE 4.99 Edge, Jack, Post Towns of Burlington County. All of Jack’s Burlington series, as published in the pages of NJPH, compiled into one document, in PDF format. FREE 7.99 Edge, Jack, Postmasters of Burlington County. List of Burlington County postmasters from in Jack’s Burlington series, in PDF format. FREE 4.99 Englund, Arne, New Jersey Summer Post Offices – seasonal POs of NJ, in PDF. FREE Law, Mary E., The Postal History of Cape May County, NJ including postmaster list, published in NJPH between March 1993 through May 1994, PDF format. FREE 8.99 Peck, Len, Essays on Sussex County & New Jersey Postal History, articles 2004‐10, pdf FREE 9.95 Roth, Steve – NJ Stampless Markings Database – an ongoing study of known NJ SFLs FREE Siskin, Ed & Jean – A List of NJ Legislative “Free:” Franks ‐2012 FREE 4.99 Walker, Jim, Hunterdon County Postal History, serialized articles 2007‐2010, pdf FREE * see our web site at www.NJPostalHistory.org for other files available free to the public in our Free Online Library ~ Includes information of early postal legislation, Revolutionary and Civil War covers, and postmaster lists from the stampless era (1789‐57), and for various NJ counties which have been researched, of interest to postal historians and genealogists as well.

THE NEW JERSEY POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY LITERATURE AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY, Post paid, send check to: Robert G. Rose, New Jersey PHS, Robert G. Rose, 18 Balbrook Drive , Mendham, NJ 07945, or email [email protected]. PayPal payment available – email [email protected] with wants for Paypal invoice.

Yearly NJPH issues on CD (2003 – 2015) Plus other valuable studies on CD

Washington NJ Organ Manufacturers By Leonard Frank

New Jersey Private Express Companies By Bruce H. Mosher

Literature purchases may be made by check (see above) or with Paypal – email Non- Member price us your choices to [email protected] for a Paypal invoice. members CD or hard copy: The Postal Markings Of New Jersey Stampless Covers: An Update by Donald A. Chafetz hardcopy, 28pp. or available as CD in $10.00 $15.00 Acrobat Reader [.PDF] format (2004) ...... Updates the extensive work of William C. Coles, with new markings and dates since that original work was published in 1983 CD: Bruce Mosher’s NJ Private Express Companies ......  10 compiled articles by Bruce Mosher on many aspects of private $10.00 $15.00 express mail in New Jersey  Many color illustrations  Previously unpublished material in lengthy postscript  Alphabetical index CD: Washington NJ Organ Manufacturers on CD, by Len Frank - 3 articles + many illustrations not in NJPH, in Acrobat Reader [.PDF] format, 2004 .. $7.50 $10.00  A series of 3 articles on the advertising covers and history of the organ manufacturers of Washington, NJ,  Adds a picture gallery of many covers not illustrated in those articles.  Includes much paper ephemera as well. An astounding compilation of material. Visit our web site at: www.NJPostalHistory.org/ (see inside back cover for hard copy literature) 184